A plan to address youth unemployment in Samoa has been launched by the International Labour Organisation or ILO.
The Deputy Director of the ILO for the Pacific, Satoshi Sasaki, say youth unemployment is estimated to be around 16 percent and together with underemployment remains a critical challenge for Samoa.
Mr Sasaki says before the launch of the National Action Plan on Youth Employment, no plan existed to address the issues.
He says the rural to urban drift of young people for better education and employment is putting an enormous strain on the Government to generate adequate jobs for new entrants into the labour force.
Mr Sasaki says a key challenge in Samoa is its young unskilled and unqualified workforce.
He says 40 percent of young people left school without graduating secondary education.
The plan will highlight priorities, strengthen delivery and integrate job creation with the mitigation of climate change.
