The “youth unemployment” rate in the region is an average 23%, compared with 75 developed and developing countries that average 17% and according to the report of the 15-member Caricom Commission on Youth Development (CCYD), it is one of the issues affecting young people that require strategic interventions by policymakers. In addition to unemployment, crime and violence committed by young people, teen pregnancy, school dropouts and HIV infections, were found to be among the social phenomena costing the region billions.
The findings of the report, “Eye on the Future: Invest in YOUTH NOW for the Community Tomorrow,” have been released ahead of a Special Summit of Caricom Heads of Government on Youth Development, which will be held in Suriname this week-end, under the theme “YOUTH NOW for the Community Tomorrow.” The study represents three years of research by the CCYD, in keeping with its mandate to analyse the situation of Caribbean youth and recommend policy interventions to empower them and improve their well-being. The CCYD consulted with more than 6,000 young people across the region on a range of issues surrounding ten strategic strands: education and training; youth unemployment; health, sexual reproductive lifestyles and practices; crime and violence; migration; Caribbean identity and the CSME; external challenges to cultural values; governance; politics; and youth participation and youth risks and vulnerability.
The report is accompanied by a cost/benefit analysis, “Costs and Benefits from Investing in Youth in the Caricom Member States: A Quantitative Assessment of the Youth Development Strategy,” conducted by former World Bank Economist Jad Chaaban, who says that by quantifying the economic impacts of young people’s socio-economic challenges, there could be a correction of the systematic underinvestment in youth development programmes in the region.
Chaaban, Caricom said, points to estimates that indicate that if youth unemployment were to be reduced to the level of that of adult unemployment (i.e. on average for the Caribbean a reduction from 23% to 8%), the Caribbean economy as a whole would benefit from an average increase of 1% in GDP.
While murder rates in the Caribbean-at 30 per 100,000 annually-are higher than any other region of the world, youth are the primary perpetrators as well as the victims of crime and violence, according to the study. It also revealed that the economic costs of youth crime include the direct financial costs related to public expenditure on security, policing, judicial processing, and incarceration as well as indirect costs, linked to the foregone earnings of the criminal and to the losses in tourism revenues linked to youth crimes. Lost tourist revenues as a result of crime had reached in excess of US$200 million per year for the Caricom region, and overall youth crime was costing at least 7% of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Caricom noted last week, referring to the study’s findings.
In addition to unemployment and crime statistics, it was also found that teenage pregnancy is costing Caricom governments an average $US2,000 per year for every young pregnant mother. These mothers are also losing potential earnings they could have achieved, if they had been able to delay their motherhood and continue to higher educational levels, according to the analysis of the results.
Further, the primary education dropout rate was also found to be “at a staggering height” as is the situation at the tertiary level. To illustrate the impact of this situation, it was noted that a young Jamaican with primary education earns 20% more in his/her lifetime over someone with no education. Similarly, continuing to secondary education ensures a 16% increase in lifetime income over primary education, while a tertiary degree provides a 20% premium over secondary level related lifetime earnings.
In the area of HIV/AIDS, Caricom countries are spending US$17 million per year on HIV treatment, with an average cost of antiretroviral therapy estimated at US$641 per person. The incidence of HIV in the Caribbean is the highest in the world outside of Africa. It is estimated that about one third of the new infections are contracted by youth aged 15-24.
Interventions and programmes aimed at addressing these situations could all result in great benefits for the region, Chaaban is quoted as saying, noting that they “materialise in the form of reduced economic costs and impacts of these negative youth behaviours, reaching into billions of dollars; and gains in productivity and GDP growth as young people become more industrious and empowered.”
He also said that addressing negative youth behaviours in Caricom member states can be achieved in a cost effective way, by focusing on programmes with proven impact and high benefit-cost ratios.
Ahead of the Heads of Government on Youth Development Summit, the CCYD report will be presented at the Youth Summit, which will encompass a Regional Youth Forum, a Special Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) on Youth and Development.
According to Caricom, the Regional Youth Forum today, supported by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), will look at increasing young people’s contribution to national and regional youth agenda, among other things. When COHSOD meets tomorrow, it is expected to consider the draft report of the CCYD, examine issues related to youth development in the context of agriculture, and Information Communication Technology and draft a declaration to be submitted to the Heads of Government on January 29.
The Heads of Government Summit, which is supported by the European Union through the Caribbean Integration Support Programme (CISP), is the first such conference on youth in the Community. (The Heads of Government is the highest decision making body of Caricom.)
The work of the CCYD was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Government of Spain, the Government of Italy and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Technical support was provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP).
