Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my opinion about the growing unemployment problem of teenagers. I would like to discuss why teens are jobless and suggest suitable measures to help them,
There are two reasons for the growing unemployment problem which teenagers are facing recently. To begin with, the world, including Hong Kong, is experiencing an economic downturn. The emergence of the financial tsunami in 2008 caused almost every industry in Hong Kong to suffer a lot. Companies like HKSBC have taken actions to cut their annual budget, and the best way is firing the staff. Teens aged 15-19 lack skills and work in small-scale companies. They are generally described as the ‘at risk group’ and are therefore fired easily. Unemployment among them becomes a growing problem as a result. The economic downturn also discourages employers from employing these teenagers as part-time workers and so on. Therefore, after the financial tsunami, these teenagers become jobless.
The second reason is that these teenagers have problems themselves, which make employers unwilling to hire them. These jobless teens aged 15 to 19 are either school dropouts because of their bad behaviour, or have had poor academic performance. Nowadays, teens themselves have lots of problems like drug abuse, violence, stealing money and so on. They then drop out of school, and once the employers discover their poor behaviour in school, they may not employ them. And once teens drop out, no matter what the reasons are, they will be regarded as failures and not welcomed by any employers. In addition, employers, especially those in big companies, would not hire teens having bad school results. They consider them as lacking knowledge and ability to handle the jobs. So, teens are jobless.
After mentioning the reasons of unemployment of teens, I would like to shift the focus onto suitable measures helping these jobless teens.
The first possible measure is that the government could cooperate with non-profit making organizations or other corporations to launch schemes to provide jobs to teens. All these sectors could jointly run programmes or schemes providing short-term jobs to teens. For instance, the government could work with a restaurant and hire teens as waiters for three months, so that the teenagers could gain work experience which helps them find other jobs later.
The second possible measure is that the government or other organizations could provide training programmes to the teens. It is known that there is an organization launching a programme called ‘Dream Café’ to let the teens experience working as a waiter or an assistant. Similar programmes could be carried out more frequently. For example, the government could organize some short-term courses to train the teens on skills like cooking, sewing, catering, and provide them with a certificate. The registration fee should be low in order to make the courses attractive. Organizations, especially the non-profit making organizations, could provide special programmes. For instance, they could ask the teens to work in a campsite for one year, which would train their leadership skills and provide them with salaries. Then the teens who have received training could find a job more easily.
The third possible measure is that the government could advertise more in order to promote a message: Even though teens are dropouts or do not have an excellent academic performance, they are able to contribute to our society. Through publicity on the media or some eye-catching posters, such a positive message could reach all members of the society, and companies may be more willing to employ teenagers.
In conclusion, the unemployment problem of teens is still growing. The teenagers are the future pillars of our society. We should give them a hand to break out of these horrible jobless days. I hope the suggestions provided would be helpful to them.
Yours faithfully
Chris Wong
Chris Wong