Population burden hinders unemployment reduction

Over-population acts as a barrier to achieving desired economic growth in a country like ours. One may argue that it is not a problem. Rather it is a blessing if we be able to transform the country's youth into skilled manpower through government and private initiatives. However, it ought to be remembered that population must be within the optimum level so that the nation's socio-economic activities are not overburdened. But our population is on a continuous upward rise that shows no sign of slowdown anytime soon. Recent events in the country give cause for some reflection. Fatalities on the highways have reached record levels. While there is no shortage of people's outrage and the fact that such incidents continue to recur due to untrained drivers operating heavy duty vehicles, no action is taken. The blatant graft existing in the concerned government body responsible for issuing licences is an open secret that is allowed to flourish in the name of providing much-needed employment to the thousands of young men across the country. The unchecked and ever mushrooming population and natural migration to urban areas has also aided in unprecedented traffic jam in the capital city. Social crimes like hijacking, burglary, theft, etc. are on the rise as the economy falters creating frustration among the vast multitudes of unemployed who find no recourse but to engage in criminal activity. Such situations create obstruction for the government in achieving desired economic growth. National income and output, per capita income, standard of living are all directly linked to the economic growth for any economy. If over-population hinders economic development by an ever increasing number of new mouths to feed, the only recourse is raising community awareness. We know all about family planning activities run by the state and the NGOs. When burden of excess population creates extra pressure on food demand, the situation becomes worse. Most nations have to count extra financial outlay to meet added food imports. This situation is further compounded with the loss of an estimated one per cent arable land every year. In this situation, the government may consider increasing spending on infrastructural development to boost up investment activities. This could boost up aggregate demand for industrial and agricultural inputs. For this, efficient and proper utilisation of investment decision will determine the propensity to consume that requires purchasing power of the consumers keeping pace at par with the high inflationary pressure in the presence of global economic downturn. The government must make sincere efforts for capital formation through judicious investment decision-making. Such policymaking could go some way in addressing the issue of reducing the rate of unemployment in the country. The writer can be reached at email: ahmed.masud69@yahoo.com