W

hile the causes of the present revolt in Egypt are complex, it is reasonable to say that the high rate of youth unemployment in the country is among many other important triggers for the crisis.

It is also noteworthy that even before the global financial crisis hit, youth unemployment in Egypt was running at more than 30 percent.

Egypt's problems were also shared by other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, from Tunisia on the northwest coast of Africa to Iran in the east, where rates of unemployment, underemployment and informal work were among the highest in the world.

In Tunisia, the young people who helped bring down dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are called hittistes — French-Arabic slang for those who lean against the wall.

Their counterparts in Egypt, who on Feb. 1 forced President Hosni Mubarak to say he would not seek reelection, are called the shabab atileen or unemployed youths.

In addition, Egypt and other countries in the region have overwhelmingly young populations — approximately two-fifths of the region’s adult population is under the age of 30.

In short, the youth boom and massive unemployment among young people in Egypt as well as skyrocketing prices of food, political oppression and chronic anger among young people and the wider population with the Mubarak regime are important in terms of the social and economic background to the revolt.

The widespread use of communication and information technology such as cellular phones and Internet among Egyptian young people also contributed to the rapid escalation of the revolt.

Numerous studies have maintained the importance of employment for people’s (including young people’s) wellbeing.

This is because employment has both a manifest function i.e. to obtain a regular income to fulfill one’s basic needs and a certain form of lifestyle, as well as a latent functions, for example to achieve a decent identity, status and wider social networks.

The absence of employment, therefore, not only means income deprivation but also the deprivation of identity, dignity and respectability. It is not surprising if disillusionment, boredom and depression are common among unemployed people.

Widespread unemployment among young people in tandem with rampant disenchantment due to political repression provides fertile ground for revolt.

It is also important to note that according to the latest International Labor Organization (ILO) report, world unemployment reached record levels last year, affecting 205 million people. Some 77.7 million youths between the ages of 15 and 24 years — or 12.6 per cent of the population — were jobless in 2010.

ILO chief Juan Somavia warned leaders in Middle East and North African countries that a failure to address rampant youth unemployment effectively, with all of its consequences for poverty and unbalanced development, together with limitations on basic freedoms, could trigger a massive outpouring of popular demands and a youth revolt.

Moreover, the ILO raised an alarm in recent months over the high level of unemployment as
one of the causes of 2010 riots in Greece and more recent protests in Tunisia that ultimately ousted
long-time president Ben Ali.

There are many similarities and lessons Indonesia can learn from the Egypt revolution that overthrew Mubarak. Like Egypt, Indonesia has relatively large young population, with more than a half of the nation’s population aged between 12 and 30 years.

Like Egypt, unemployment also significantly affects young Indonesians. There are 4.8 million young people aged between 15 and 24 years who are out of work, and this country still ranks highly in terms of unemployment rates in Southeast Asia.

The number of unemployed young Indonesians exceeds 20 percent and is more than five times the adult rate of unemployment. More than 60 percent of the unemployed are elementary or high school graduates and school dropouts aged between 18 and 35, who potentially contribute to prevailing social problems.

Fortunately, unlike Egypt, since 1998 Indonesia has had a more democratic political environment. Therefore, the high rate of youth unemployment in Indonesia is highly unlikely to trigger a youth revolt like the recent one in Egypt.

However, this is not an excuse to neglect and to do nothing to address the high rate of youth unemployment in this country.

Studies have revealed the association of youth unemployment with many health and social problems such as the increasing rates of depression, disillusionment, problematic substance use, self harm, suicide as well as involvement in crime and offences.

The government should address more effectively the economic inequalities, employ a pro-poor economic policy, increase economic growth and revitalize the real sector that could provide more jobs to young people.

After all, the costs and human suffering caused by doing nothing to significantly reduce youth unemployment, as the cases of Egypt and Tunisia have proved, are too high.

The writer is a lecturer at the School of Public Health, Hasanuddin University, Makassar.