Rapid Increase in Unemployment in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is a country with abundant natural resources. Despite its riches resources, the
country is currently facing a rapid increase in unemployment due to the increase in population for the
last decade. The country currently has more than seven million people, and compare to others the
population of youths is the highest. [General Statement]. On The National 12th May, 2024, opposition
leader Peter O’neil has mentioned that since 2019 the number of youths being unemployed has been
increasing rapidly. Thus, he is appealing for the government to fix this issue[supporting Sentence].
According to the Oxford dictionary Unemployment is defined as the state of being jobless. In this essay it
will discuss more about the causes of unemployment in PNG, the effects of it and finally some
preventive measures needed to address this issue.
In Papua New Guinea one major cause of the increase in unemployment is due to less government
services being provided. Government services like hospitals, schools and roads are areas that boost
employment, and since these services are not provided, unemployment is increasing rapidly. According
to Post Courier dated 10th of May 2024, Brent Kunda a community Leader from Longo Kave village in
Mendi, Southern Highlands Province made a public speech saying that the graduating teachers and
nurses of their village and other neighboring villages were not able to find jobs in the province due to
less aid post and schools available in the province[Supporting Sentence with reports]. Thus, he said
more schools and hospitals must be establish to cater for the ones that are currently unemployed.
Services like air ports, schools and hospitals are areas that can provide job opportunities to individuals,
but due to the fact that not many of those services are found in the rural areas of the country, it has
caused a huge increase in unemployment[Closing sentence].
Another cause is due to unhealthy population. Major services like roads and aid post are not provided to
help treat patients and also to make awareness of how people can leave a healthy life, because of that it
has led to an unhealthy population, in which people ended up being jobless due to illness. Based on Post
Courier dated 12th June 2023, The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mendi General Hospital Dr. Josheph
Birisi, said that many people in the rural parts of the province are not able to go to work due to illness.
“Many of the employees like primary school teachers, police officers and even nurses to are not able to
come to work because of illness.” He also said that awareness is important to help people leave a
healthy life. When people are ill it can force them to leave their job, and this another major cause of
unemployment in PNG.
Due to those causes one of the main effect it has for the country is the increase in crime rate. With the
country facing high unemployment and economic loss recently people are focusing on means and ways
to earn incomes. Due to the unemployment factor, especially the ones living in the urban areas are not
able to afford the life, so entering into illegal activities has been the only way to sustain themselves.
Base on The National 15th of July, 2023 it’s stated that a young Man from Western Highlands was caught
by the police after breaking into an apartment[Supporting Sentence with reports]. Also there has been
multiple reports on robbing and stealing on recent new paper articles. As seen from various sources,
illegal activities has been popping up everywhere in the country and a major reason for that would be
due to unemployment[Closing sentence].
To conclude, as stated clearly above lack of government services, unhealthy population and other which
may have not been mentioned are the leading causes of unemployment and these causes has a lot of
negative effects in the country, such as increase in crime rate and street vendors in the towns and cities.
Thus, one major solution to address this issue would be to set up government services in both the rural
and urban areas to help those youths that are struggling. This may also solve the issue of illegal
marketing and other crime rate in the country[Recommendation].