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Decent jobs for youths a challenge: Usamate

June 7, 2018 6:35 pm

With a young population, decent jobs for youths remains a challenge.

This was highlighted by Employment Minister, Jone Usamate while addressing the Asia Pacific Group Ministerial Meeting at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland this week.

The meeting focused on challenges and opportunities of demography and balancing decent jobs for youths and the ageing population.

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Usamate says ageing population in developed countries provide opportunities for countries with a youthful population such as Fiji to access work opportunities.

He says 69 percent of Fiji’s population is below 40 years and unemployment is at a historic low of 4.5 percent.

However he says, youth unemployment is 18 percent.

Usamate says this remains a challenge and to address this there is emphasis on access to education and support programmes for the youths.

He gave examples of the Young Entrepreneurship Scheme, tax rebates encouraging employers to provide jobs to the youths, Farmer Assistance Programme, and funding support for scholarships.