The Crisis of the last decade has brought about significant growth in unemployment rates throughout the country. Especially young people in Syria, that should be at the beginning of their career, are suffering the consequences of the damaged infrastructure and a growing economic crisis. Dreams, ambitions, and hopes for a better future are diminishing for an entire generation. For most, the only option is to leave the country and try to build a future elsewhere.
Staying in Syria means long working hours and barely being able to make ends meet for them and their families. Most work several, smaller, jobs to be able to survive. But due to the economic crisis and a substantial inflation, food prices have skyrocketed, and the living conditions have worsened significantly.
Today, after a whole decade of agony, in which the crisis has destroyed their assets, their homes and livelihoods, the active working population in Syria has a bleak lookout on their future and no hopes of job opportunities.
There are no official statistics of the unemployment rate in Syria, but it is certainly high and it might be on the peak currently because most families are suffering severe poverty.
Child labor on the rise
Along with unemployment for adolescents, there is another consequence of the crisis endured by the Syrian population – child labor. Many Syrian children have been left without someone to take care of them financially. Therefore, they are forced to work hard at an early age to be able to support them and their families. This means, they must leave school and give up their education for work. A trend with fatal consequences for the already socially and economically weakened country.
Today, with more than 60% of the population living under the poverty line, the families have no option but to send their young sons into the labor market and
push their girls into early marriages. These children are at higher risk of harassment, human trafficking, begging and sexual exploitation.
The Red Crescent supports
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is working hard to restore the balance, where adolescents can go back to work and children back to school. I.e., through livelihood projects that create the opportunity for vulnerable families to regain a sustainable resource of income and the hope for a better future for their children.
