Dear Editor,

In Jamaica we have a serious youth unemployment problem. Many young people leave high school with no hope of getting a job, and worse, many leave university with no access to reasonable employment in their chosen field.

With that comes depression, as the youth leave school and are either left behind or herded into menial paying jobs and they see no future. With limited job prospects how can we expect them to fuel the economy or get finance for the brilliant prospect they have?

One issue is that the areas in which the youth generally wish to study do not tend to lead to great employment. As alluded to in the newspapers, the law field is saturated and while everyone loves a poet, Jamaica is not advanced enough to afford many poets meaningful employment.

So what to do? First a push by the education ministry focusing on the STEM [science technology, engineering mathematics] subjects; this has begun but more need to be done in that regard. We can also aid by actually giving our technical high schools priority, doing this would ensure that the children at those schools would be exposed to quality technical training with modern tools.

To get those who have left school with degrees and are unemployed or working in low-paying jobs, the answers lie in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and farming.

The armed force is a microcosm of society. It needs engineers, it needs mechanics, doctors, nurses, and the list goes on. Almost any job found in civilian life can be found in the armed force. All students, once they leave high school or college, should be conscripted to the JDF for a minimum of three years.

This is ideal because people with no qualification will learn a skill they can use to make a living, while the person with a degree can learn something that will expand their horizon.

As for farming, that is simply a no-brainer. With an import food bill that far exceeds what we buy locally, it would be madness to not invest in farming. Taking the under-and-unemployed youth, putting them on modern state-of-the-art collective farms and paying them well would lead to greater productive employment, more money in the economy and a massive reduction in our food import bill.

More investment in technical schools, government focus on STEM subjects, conscription and farming; therein are the answers to our youth unemployment problem. If we act fast we can save this generation if not, however, I fear we will never escape this rut.

Alexander Scott