Africa must focus on youth employment, says President Obama

In a historic address to the African Union, President Barack Obama urged leaders to prioritize creating jobs and opportunity for the youngest and fastest-growing continent in the world.

Press release | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 28 July 2015
ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) – Barack Obama, the first US President to ever visit the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, urged African leaders to focus on job creation and opportunities for the next generation of young people in the continent.


“I suggest to you that the most urgent task facing Africa today and for decades ahead is to create opportunity for this next generation. (…). Africa will need to generate millions more jobs than it’s doing right now. And time is of the essence”, President Obama said in a historic speech delivered from the headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa.

Africa has the youngest population in the world. Current trends indicate that this figure will double by 2045. In the coming decade alone, it is estimated that 122 million people will enter the workforce.

“The choices made today will shape the trajectory of Africa, and therefore, the world for decades to come”, Obama emphasized during an official ceremony attended by Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa of the ILO (International Labour Organization).

In the coming decades, Africa’s population will double to some two billion people, and many of them will be young, under 18, he underscored. “Now, on the one hand, this could bring tremendous opportunities as these young Africans harness new technologies and ignite new growth and reforms”, the US President stressed.

  • Youth are part of the solution

  • Most young workers in developing countries are in the informal economy

  • 40% of the world's unemployed are young people

Economists will tell you that countries, regions, continents grow faster with younger populations. “It's a demographic edge and advantage -- but only if those young people are being trained”, he told government officials, diplomats, UN Senior representatives and members of civil society organizations.

“We need only to look at the Middle East and North Africa to see that large numbers of young people with no jobs and stifled voices can fuel instability and disorder”, Obama cautioned.

For the ILO, with 10 to 12 million young women and men looking for jobs each year, every African country should place employment creation as a central objective of its macro-economic policies.

President Obama met earlier Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the African Union Commission, to discuss skills revolution to provide African youth with employment opportunities. Prior to this historic address, Mr Obama was in Nairobi, Kenya on a state visit to also take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

“You see, in this information age, jobs can flow anywhere, and they typically will flow to where workers are literate and highly skilled and online. And Africa’s young people are ready to compete. I've met them -- they are hungry, they are eager. They’re willing to work hard. So we've got to invest in them”, President Obama concluded.