President David Granger has said that his Government is committed to working towards the provision of an enabling environment for job creation that is benefiting for young Guyanese.

But the Head of State wants job seekers to look beyond seeking employment within the government and aim to be creators of their own wealth.

“I would discourage young people from seeking state employment because it is what one person once called employee poverty. The salaries are low and the possibilities are limited,” the President said.

Mr. Granger said that the Government’s role is vital in the creation of employment for young people and believes that this role is particularly based on sound education systems.

“An educated person is more likely to be innovative so there are many fields educated people can go into…so young entrepreneurs who are innovative and who can access information technology are likely to move ahead and Government can become facilitators in these fields,” he added.

“In some cases we have had drop outs. As far as I am concerned, too many drop outs but even so, we are putting more emphasis on more technical and vocational education and soon measures will be introduced in the National Assembly to explain our youth policy and of course, let education be the center piece of the youth policy. So as far as Government is concerned, in the first instance, it must pay more attention to the traditional educational system and second, to get more young people into the technical and vocational training,” the President said.

But while education is a key part of getting the youth population to work, the President understands that in order for the private sector to be an engine of economic growth, government must play a role in ensuring that an environment that allows businesses to thrive is available.

“The Government has to work with the private sector. There is no way that the Government could give each and every person a job. What the Government does is create a facilitating environment and by working with civil society, by working with employers, and by introducing policies which facilitate the type of job creation that we expect…so Government is not going to sit on its hands and allow young people to remain unemployed. Government is going to be an active participant to help young people to get into the world of work,” he said,

In addition to creating the enabling environment for the creation of jobs, President Granger said that the young people can also expect efforts on the part of his Government, in the promotion and marketing of products, especially agricultural and value added products regionally.

He noted that these efforts can be seen in one of the mandates, which has been laid out for the newly appointed Foreign Service Officers, where they have been tasked with the promotion and marketing of Guyana’s products and investment potential.

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