(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Islamic countries need to create 85 million jobs over the next decade to help fight yawning unemployment in their midst, says a top official of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) states.
Hameed A Opeloyeru, Assistant Director-General, Economic Affairs, said a major problem responsible for high jobless rate in member states is a near-total disconnect between their education systems and job markets.
To generate jobs in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) of OIC had donated $4.5bn in 2011-13.
Opeloyeru told Qatar news Agency in an interview flashed yesterday that the Islamic bloc lagged behind the rest of the world in generating jobs and unemployment rate was above the world average in member states.
According to International Labour Organisation (ILO), the jobless rate in OIC states was 7.6 to 8.8 percent between 2000 and 2012.
The world average during the period was seven percent. The percentages varied from one OIC member to another.
Qatar had, for instance, the world's lowest unemployment rate at 0.6 percent, followed by Benin and Kuwait - the latter had 1.5 percent unemployment.
But countries like Mauritania had the highest jobless rate, at 31 percent, followed by Palestine (23), Gabon (20.3) and Yemen (17.6).
Youth unemployment in OIC countries is more challenging - 16 percent in member states against global average of 12.9.
In 2012, some 24 OIC states had youth unemployment ratio exceeding 20 percent, while the percentage in the remaining 33 member countries was 12.9.
Unemployment in Islamic countries is not only an economic issue, but also gradually turning into a major social challenge, said Opeloyeru.
He said several factors were to blame for the malaise and they included lack of job opportunities in OIC states, lack of productivity and unstable economies.
A major factor is that the education system in OIC states is not linked to local job markets. "There is a huge disconnect," said Opeloyeru.
The world financial crisis that began in 2007 caused massive job losses in the Islamic world and this was particularly true of people dependent on export-related sectors.
OIC labour ministers met in Azerbaijan in April 2013 and chalked out a strategy to fight unemployment.
A committee has been set up to help implement it, Opeloyeru said.
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