A recent UN Population report has warned that an estimated 1.8 billion young people, the largest cohort of youth ever known, will likely see their most economically productive years wasted.
The figures have some, such as the UK’s deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, calling today’s youth the “Lost generation”, with poor infrastructure, lack of jobs and lack of education as critical problems holding young people back.
The news out of South Africa is equally depressing, Adcorp, a leading staffing and human capital management organization in South Africa recently proclaimed that SA’s labour market is in shambles, with 8.5 million people (or 25% of the total population) out of work.
These cynical prognoses sit against the backdrop of further complexities created by South Africa’s labour laws, the 7th most restrictive in the world, the B.E.E hiring initiatives, the tripartite ruling relationship, and xenophobic tensions on the ground that have gotten so alarming that Genocide Watch, a global genocide and mass murder monitoring NGO, upgraded South Africa’s risk status citing racial divisions and xenophobia.
So what can we make of this? What can today’s youth do about this?
Gandhi once said “Be the change you want to see in the world“.
In short, it’s up to YOU.
Below is a video, calling to action the Lost Generation.
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This is your Thursday thought.
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