Labour Minister Cllr Cooper W. Kruah, Sr., has outlined several recommendations to alleviate the current high youth unemployment rate in the country. Addressing a major platform on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, organized by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in Monrovia on the topic: “Youth Perspective on Liberia’s Future”, the Labour Minister said the economic outlook of the Liberian youth is not in the ground, or in donor budget; it is in digital economy, creative industry, agriculture value addition and the informal hustler market that keeps the country breathing.
According to a release, Minister Kruah stressed that Liberia’s economic outlook for the youth consists of several distinct but overlapping pools. He called for the establishment of enterprise funds for youth empowerment with zero collateral, with a group of three to five guarantors and grace periods. The Labour Minister also recommended a parallel certification system for vocational excellence for youth in solar panel installation, digital marketing, motorcycle repair and food processing.
He then called on the National government to lease or use land to a cooperative of over 100 young Farmers for agro-production purposes. Recounting his ministry’s contributions to the empowerment of the Liberian youth population, Minister Kruah disclosed that in 2024, the Labour Ministry provided vacation jobs to over 300 young people, while the following year, the number of vacation job beneficiaries rose to over 1,300 youth.
In conclusion, the Labour Minister recommended to the Central Government, among others, to provide training plus a matching platform for Liberian youth to get remote work from Diaspora Liberians and international Non-governmental Organizations.
The forum aimed at galvanizing views from a cross-section of Liberian society, especially key public decision makers, on finding lasting solutions to the surge in youth unemployment across the country.
