Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

Some Jamaican youth have been searching for jobs for up to three years with no success, according to a 'School-to-Work Transition' survey commissioned by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in collaboration with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).

The islandwide study surveyed 3,685 youth between the ages of 15 and 24. It investigated the characteristics of four categories of youth: In school (42.3 per cent), not working (36.6 per cent), employed (16.1 per cent), and self-employed (5 per cent).

Steven Kerr, manager in the human development unit at the PIOJ, said while a majority of youngsters who were employed and qualified had searched less than six months for a job, nearly half of the networking group had spent more than a year to three years looking for work. He said some of them had become disillusioned.

Interviews

The data showed that 58.6 per cent of the 'not working youth' attended no interview; 30 per cent attended one to two interviews and 11.3 per cent attended more than three interviews.

Speaking yesterday during the launch of the survey, held at the PIOJ's New Kingston offices, Mr. Kerr said the job search tends to be longer for those with lower education achievement, self-employed males and older youths.

The survey revealed that females with the highest education level-secondary and above, and youth in parish capitals and major towns were more likely to be granted interviews.

According to the PIOJ, this is probably due to the fact that there are higher levels of economic opportunities in parish capitals and major towns, and the fact that the job market favours people with the highest levels of education.

The five main obstacles in finding suitable jobs were: No suitable training opportunities, unsuitable general education, no education, unsuitable vocational education and not enough jobs available.