Govt shows commitment in addressing youth unemployment -ILO

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

Encouraging youth entrepreneurship, enterprise development,effective implementation of international labour standards and better training and education are some of the collective action that could help change the future for young people.

ILO Country Director Sri Lanka and Maldives Donglin Li expressed these sentiments at the “Young Voices from Sri Lanka” workshop organized by the ILO and Ministry of Youth Affairs at the Foundation Institute yesterday.

He said creating jobs for youth is a crucial issue in Sri Lanka and the government along with other stakeholders in addressing youth unemployment. He assured ILO ’s continuous support to pursue its decent work agenda, creating greater employment opportunities for youth in Sri Lanka.

He said the ILO has initiated programs in Sri Lanka to support youth mployment premised upon the four E’s of employment namely, equality, employability, entrepreneurship and employment creation for young persons by promotion of investment in sectors that generate jobs for youth.

However, it is imperative that forward looking, active labour market policies for job growth and productivity in all sectors be formulated to harness the energies of young men and women be addressed as articulated in the National Human Resource and Development policy.