Minister Azzi appeals to the US to solve the unemployment problem in Lebanon (!)

Politicians in Lebanon have lately referred to unsubstantiated figures on the size and rate of unemployment in Lebanon that are far from logic and are not based on any reliable official statistics. In a latest statement, the Labor Minister Sajaan Azzi stated that nearly one million out of four million Lebanese citizens are jobless, i.e. 25% of the total population (and not of the workforce). Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the total number of refugees in the country at present is one million persons according to UNHCR estimations, thus giving Minister Azzi the opportunity to persevere in trying to link the chronic problem of unemployment in Lebanon to that of Syrian displacement.  Azzi’s statement concerning unemployment was made last Friday during his launching of the ‘We Act for the Recruitment of Youth’ initiative, in cooperation with USAID and Microsoft. On that occasion, the minister urged the United States to help Lebanon in relieving the burden of the refugee crisis on unemployment!? (For the full article, please visit: http://www.almustaqbal.com/v4/article.aspx?Type=NP&ArticleID=699761)

An Nahar, Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, April 9, 2016