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An Australian Development Policy Centre article by visiting “Government must focus on youths instead of seeing them
lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea, Andrew Anton as difficulties. They are a key part of their community. We
Mako, outlines the challenged state of PNG’s economy. must not use them for selfish political gains. Every five years,
Annual inflation has been about 5% over the last 10 years. elections come and candidates go out and try to appeal to the
Cost of living adjustments for public servants have typically youths. They make lots of promises and after the election,
been around 3%. The minimum wage has not been increased they forget about these youths that they engaged during the
since 2013, and today is only worth half of what it was then, election.
after inflation, writes Mako. The other side of PNG’s blunted double-edged development
He cites the lack of jobs as another major problem. Formal sword is the lack of a rural development plan.
sector employment peaked at 300,000 in 2013 and is now at “The government tells people to return to the countryside,
less than 270,000. The population would have grown by about but it is the lack of employment in the countryside and rural
30% over the same period. decay that brings people to the cities in the first place,” says
One of PNG’s most significant development challenges is its Mako.
“youth bulge” – where the number of young people exceeds Barker says the government needs to create more economic
all other age groups. According to the 2011 Census, 58% of activities and better services in the rural areas while
PNG’s 7.3 million inhabitants were under the age of 25, “one providing practical lessons in agriculture, processing, and
of the highest proportions in the Pacific.” finance skills for people to stay in rural areas.
That there has been no census in more recent times, and He suggests a range of other pro-rural measures such as
the challenges that poses to development planning, is an issue facilities to support MSMEs, establishing markets for fresh
on its own. produce and other micro-business and sporting facilities,
But as Barker puts it, Papua New Guinea is now full of as well as formalising settlements so that people become
people under the age of 30 who are struggling to establish committed to owning a house, whether on State or customary
themselves in life. land.
“So many young people, and some of them are alienated
and have high aspirations. They feel they should be getting
a better lifestyle. However, the cost of living is very high,
especially in Port Moresby. Even in the settlements, rentals “The public are aware that the government
for accommodations and food [costs] also are high. And there system is weak. Bribery and corruption is rife.
is high aspiration. They want jobs, they want things that other They don’t trust the government systems.”
people have like the latest mobile phones and other expensive - UPNG lecturer, Kelly Samof
gadgets. They also want bigger objects like television,
washing machines, refrigerators and so on. Basically, they just
envy the Jones that live next door.”

Out of touch Another leading political and economic analyst, National
Barker feels the government is out of touch with the needs Research Institute Chairman, Wilson Thompson, says the
of the people and needs to up its game of connecting with the government does not have key data such as the number of
grassroots. One of the ways he suggests doing that is through unemployed, the number of skilled people and their skills. He
a community engagement program with young people, says the Labour Department’s National Employment Services,
especially in the settlements, to get its finger on the pulse of which stopped functioning almost 30 years ago, used to keep
the nation. track of school-leavers, especially from technical colleges,
“You will obtain interesting information - like in education, and act as a job placement service for them.
politics, and economics. In fact, you will get information “We need to get this service back to track down all
about how the youths feel. Like their only recreational land school-leavers. That way we can track and address the
for sports activities was bought off by private people with unemployment issues. And we need to have a population
shady deals under the table with government officers. There census. We’re saying [the] population is 11 million. But those
are not many places for young people to have recreational are just estimations. And when we have a National Census
activities. which the Prime Minister had said we will have this year,
we really need to get people’s data right. We must not just
get the statistics of the people, we need to also know their
education level, and if they are employed.”
University of Papua New Guinea’s School of Business
“We need to have a population census.”
Economics Studies lecturer, Kelly Samof, says while Black
- National Research Institute Chairman, Wednesday was due to Papua New Guinea’s struggling
Wilson Thompson
economy, the looting and burning also shows that the people
do not trust government systems.
“The public are aware that the government system is

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