One of the biggest challenges facing the government today is the high rate of youth unemployment. It is a serious issue that calls for strong policies and good leadership to effectively tackle.

However, with the reformed labour market policies and laws, Tanzania can promote economic efficiency and attract more investments, both local and foreign, and thus create more jobs for its hordes of young people.

Unemployment, especially among youth, poses a great challenge to the government and the society as a whole because it is a product of a number of factors. These include lack of requisite skills and training and the acute short of credit facilities.

It is, therefore, disappointing to note that leaders from both sides of the political divide are not giving sufficient attention to this potentially explosive issue.Youth unemployment deserves as much attention, if not more, as issues such as MPs’ allowances, which have been at the top of political agenda in recent months.A labour force survey recently indicated that youth unemployment was 33 per cent of the entire unemployed population.

It is absurd that even in the rural areas, which offer unique opportunities because youth learn different occupations from childhood, employment is also limited during the off-farming season because there are not enough activities to occupy them. Urgent measures need to be taken to reverse the trend.

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