11,500 educated teenagers jobless

11,500 educated teenagers jobless

DILI, East Timor: More than 11,500 high school graduates are currently listed as job seekers at the provincial manpower office.

The number represents 73 percent of all unemployed people listed by the local government, said Yosef Soesanto, chief of the office workers' placement section, yesterday.

Their prospects are bleak because there is no indication that the government and public sectors will have enough openings for them in the foreseeable future, he said.

Besides, the youngsters have no particular skills to offer prospective employers, he said as reported by Antara.

Official statistics show that in the past five years the workforce in the former Portuguese colony has grown by an average of 3.7 percent compared to 3.3 percent in job opportunities.

Hence, the job market has absorbed only 58,000 or about 80 percent of job seekers over the same period, he said. (pan)