TIMOR-LESTE: Working to Tackle Unemployment

By Matt Crook Reprint | | Print |

DILI, Jul 7 2011 (IPS) - Tackling unemployment has been one of the main stumbling blocks in the statebuilding process in Timor-Leste, a half-island nation of about 1.1 million people.

Nowhere is the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of achieving decent employment for men, women and young people more crucial than for a young, post-conflict nation like Timor-Leste, which has a population heavily weighted towards its youth. Forty-five percent of its people are aged 15 years and below, according to the Population Reference Bureau.