May 1st, 2006: Where are we from the suffocating unemployment epidemic in our country?
Even today, on Labor Day, we will see the March 8 and March 14 groups gathering in separate venues to preach and/or rant about justice and equality. On every single issue, politics and empty slogans get their fair share of representation.
Would anyone bother to ask about percentages and numbers? If we are to ask these questions, I believe that everyone in the political sphere in our country will get an F. Because, there is nothing being done to date to solve the biggest and most entrenched problem in our country, which is unemployment.
Unemployment leads to apathy and emptiness, apathy leads to a fatalistic outlook on life, which in turn leads to youth that carry polarized and extremist world views…and of course we’ll witness from the comfort of our couches, a race to arms and confrontation.
The enthusiasm harnessed from youth on the eve of March 14, which was conveniently used by politicians, has been easily transformed from a peaceful enthusiasm to a monstrous enthusiasm to conquer, subdue, and win over.
And those young Lebanese who do not have an appetite for conquering, subduing, and wining over, have been packing their bags and leaving the country in search of better prospects, while their parents bid them farewell with a smile, happy that their children are out of the danger zone.
Beirut I, Aoun’s aspirations, Lahoud, Hizbullah’s arms, the Shebaa Farms, the Hariri investigation, Syria, Israel, Iran, the debt, the national dialogue, the Maronite representation crisis, the Shiite-Sunni rift….and nowhere do we read, see, or hear about a comprehensive strategy for workforce development and employment.
Let’s start first with those forgotten Lebanese youth who still live in Lebanon, and then those living abroad can return and bring their brains and/or money along.
But when I write "Let's", who is "us"? Does the "us" have any power in Lebanon at the moment? Perhaps instead of going around the country collecting signatures to impeach President Lahoud, a campaign that turned out to be useless and futile at best, Lebanese journalists, politicians, and wives of politicians should have toured the country to collect signatures for a petition that reads:
"AS A LEBANESE CITIZEN, I DEMAND FROM MY STATE BASIC JOB SEARCH ASSISTANCE, JOB PLACEMENT SERVICES, AND JOB TRAINING TO ASSUME A JOB...IN MY COUNTRY."
(Note: And for those who ask, I'm not in any shape or form advocating replacing market mechanisms, but advocating for a more "facilitator" role on the part of the state, within a public-private partnership framework, to help move the country and its people forward. Just think how simple it could be to install computers with internet access in some remote towns in Lebanon and provide access to Lebanese with a country-wide employer database, a job bank of sorts, to help facilitate job searches, and in turn, employers would be benefitting from that service as well by being matched with a pool of Lebanese applicants.)
"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Doha, the State will not give you a job nor does it owe you one.
Unless we're talking jobs at the casino or ministry of this, where you show up once a month and rob the nation.
I demand the state does ITS own job of establishing security an implementing the law. The rest, the private economy will do a whole lot better than the state.
But you are right that the right questions need to be asked and focused on (and Shebaa ain't it).
When was the last decent job placement by a state agency?
If your point is that the gov and pols should focus on the economy, we agree.
I'm just saying security and stability, the gov primary responsibilies, will help jobs 90%. Other stuff MAY be icing on the cake.
So before we get to the kind of fine tuning you are talking about, we need to dump clearly and very aggressively side issues like shebaa, the resistance, support for the PA and the like.
If not, no amount of gvmnt help will cure the job situation. And I am afraid that even the opponents of HA and Lahoud dare not say that bluntly.
Doha, Allow me to disagree with you for the first time
Here are two scenarios:
1- You set up a government agency to facilitate job search. You go around the country giving job-search workshops, career-development lectures, and you try to create some kind of matchmaking database between job-seekers and job-creators. To achieve that, you have to increase the government's bureaucracy by hiring people who are expecting tax-payer-money jobs for life, with political backing and corruption that would offset the benefits of such a position (which is tax income derived from more people employed in the economy)
2- Create a growth policy that will make doing business in Lebanon so desirable that the companies themselves will dispatch people to look for talent.
As a responsible tax payer, which one would you choose?
yet imagine if the state at least tried to bring together all those brilliant thinkers to try to come up with large-scale initiatives...
We don't have to imagine Doha.
The French are still under the illusion that it works (money loser Concord in the past).
Today the might of the French gvmnt and billion of Euros are backing a new search engine to rival Google that was created by the proverbial 2 guys in a garage.
That's saying nothing about the socialist experiment in the old Eastern Bloc.
I know you trust the private sector, as does everyobody nowadays, at least in words. But be careful what you wish for.
Let the gvmnt. fix what it is supposed to manage before taking on new tasks. Let's get electricity (and public education) working before all this other stuff.
PS Yeah and while I'm hitting on the gmnt, let's also extradite friggin Rana Koleilate, how difficult is that?
Doha, I think your post highlights the issues that should be of primary concern for us today. The government has some duties and should be "forced" to undertake them. We have some responsibilities and we should rise up and act accordingly. The post is good and appropriate...
Post a Comment