Delivering the feature address during the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning’s National Youth Skills Forum held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh highlighted the People’s Progressive Party /Civic Government’s unwavering commitment to the development of Guyana’s youth. He noted that under the leadership of President Dr. Irfaan Ali, the government is not just talking about the future but is actively building it by expanding free technical training and creating an unprecedented environment for employment and entrepreneurship. He further urged young people to take up all the opportunities being provided in Guyana as he related that when President Ali entered office, the unemployment rate in the country was 12.8% but that by 2024, that rate was reduced by half to 6.8%. He also pointed out further that the youth unemployment rate in 2020 was 30.2% but by 2024, this rate was reduced by more than a half, from 30.2% in 2020 to 12.1% in 2024. The Forum was held in observance of World Youth Skills Day today.

“And we did that by creating in the first five years of being in government, more than 104,000 new jobs. Now, in a population such as ours, 104,000 is a really staggering number, and jobs have continued to be created,” Minister Singh explained. He however noted that in Guyana’s rapidly growing economy, one of the biggest challenges faced is the challenge found in the labour market.

“It doesn’t require me to think for more than a few nanoseconds because the reality is that jobs are being created more rapidly than we are able to produce people with the skills required to take up those jobs,” the Minister emphasized.,