Africa's jobless rate is nearly twice that of the rest of the world despite several years of rapid economic growth, according to a UN report released on Tuesday. The International Labor Organization (ILO) said African economies need to create 2 million more new jobs every year for their unemployment rate of 10.3 percent to fall to the global average of 6.3 percent by 2015, when the UN's Millennium Development Goals on reducing poverty come due. … ‘In Africa young people (are) three times more likely to be unemployed than adults,’ it said in the Decent Work Agenda in Africa report. … The report recommended that African countries seek to foster more employment-heavy sectors of their economies. ... Kick-starting job creation would require steps to reduce the time, cost and complexity of registering a business and ensure that property rights and contracts are better-enforced. … Other constraints to African employment growth include bureaucratic obstacles to international trade, difficulties in accessing credit, especially for women, and erratic tax regimes for entrepreneurs, the ILO found.” [Reuters/Factiva]



Reporting ahead of the ILO’s Africa regional meeting starting April 24, The Daily Monitor writes that “… ILO Regional Director Regina Amadi Njoku said the meeting, themed ‘Decent Work Agenda in Africa 2007-2015,’ is expected to deliberate on various issues related to Africa's development. …Njoku said although Africa had been registering encouraging economic growth over the past years, it was impossible to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) without employment-rich growth that generates decent employment opportunities. Africa needs 11 million new job opportunities yearly to meet the MDGs, but the jobs being created annually in Africa total not more than 8.6 million. HIV/AIDS, rampant conflicts, migration, and the brain drain of qualified Africans are challenges that are significantly affecting Africa's human capital and diminishing its work force, she said. …” [The Daily Monitor (Ethiopia)/Factiva]