Challenges of Youth Unemployment in Liberia and its Potential Implications for Social and Political Stability

The volatile state of youth in Liberia can be attributed largely to how the post-war interventions, especially the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-combatants were conducted. Emphasis was more on quantity and not on quality and sustainability. The result is the relapse of ex-combatants to crimes and drug abuse that Liberia currently struggles with.   

Reflecting on the Liberian Civil War that was characterized and operationalized by the unprecedented involvement of youth and children many of whom were mentally framed and groomed to believe in the use of violence as a way of life, brings about a strong and compelling conviction to look at the critical factor that needs not only to talk about but to proffer effective and efficient solutions that would contribute to social and political stability in Liberia. Youth unemployment in this case is more than perilous for peacebuilding and sustenance of Peace in Liberia. 

The Liberian Civil War which took away several lives, estimated at 250,000 left indelible marks on every sector in Liberia. Young people who were key actors in the violent civil war are now wearing the suits of victims. With support from international partners including the United Nations, USAID, the European Union, and many others, Liberia has not succeeded in dealing with the several challenges that impede opportunities for youth to progress professionally in Liberia.   The unemployment rate among youth in Liberia remains at 3.08 percent in 2021 and 2022 which is relatively high.  According to the International Labour Organization’s definition, to be classified as unemployed, a person needs to fulfil three criteria: (i) not to have worked at all in the reference week, (ii) to be available to take up work within the next two weeks and (iii) to have been either actively seeking work in the past four weeks or have already found a job that starts in the next three months. By this definition, it can be argued that there is a huge population of young people in Liberia who are not captured as unemployed nor are they in the labour force. However, social and political stability remain equally threatened by both categories of youth. This point was emphasized by Her Excellency, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, former president of Liberia who stated that “without jobs for our very young population, we run the risk of them once again being recruited into conflict, undermining all the progress we have made”.  

Globally, there is no agreed international definition of the age for youth. The United Nations defines youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 24 while Liberia defines youth as persons with ages between 15 and 35. The rationale for this age limit in Liberia is that 14 years of warfare have left over-age youth ill-equipped to adjust to a post-conflict society. Many of the young people in Liberia are unemployed and out of the labour force and not much-targeted efforts have yielded the desired result. This can be attributed to two key factors. 

limited budgetary allotment for youth development continues to be a key impediment to youth employment in Liberia. The 2030 Education Agenda, for example, calls on countries including Liberia to commit at least 20 percent of government expenditure or 4 – 6 percent of its GDP to education. Liberia with all the natural resources including iron ore, gold, diamond, and arable land has not been able to meet up with this commitment.  Resource rents paid by companies involved in the extraction of these natural resources have either been misdirected or squandered with nothing much directed to educational and training institutions. 

Secondly, educational and training programs are not reflective of the labour market. There has been a mismatch between the type of skills being offered by training and educational institutions in Liberia. The programs have both been more traditional, not reflecting the demand for the current and future labour market. Every year in Liberia, universities put out undergraduate and graduate students with youth constituting anywhere near one thousand. A lot of these graduates are yet to successfully make their way to the job market as foreign nationals allegedly dominate the mining sector. Vocational training programs proceed in like manner. 

Even though the Liberian Civil War ended two decades ago, the regrettable consequences are ever present especially among the youthful population. Drug and substance abuse, crime and violence continue to escalate since the end of the civil war. Young people have been introduced to narcotic drug at an alarming rate in almost every settlement in Liberia. In some cases, this habit seems to be a lower hanging fruits for lots of youth compared to a more positive rout through education and vocational training. This trend of aberrant attitude among youth if not tackled in a more targeted way, has the propensity to create a more deadly social and political instability. Nevertheless, the need for targeted action for youth development should not be looked at from an angle of fear. Youth development should be seen as a fundamental human right that must be mainstreamed and integrated into the national development agenda with key consideration for social and economic sustainability. The strategy is, invest at least 20 percent of the national budget into strategic youth development programs and lastly, develop and operationalize realistic, responsive and sustainable national rehabilitation programs targeting vulnerable youths and others.