With more than 60 percent of the population under 30, Cameroon’s future will rise or fall with its youth. Yet the reality is stark: too many are jobless, underemployed, or trapped in survival hustles. The question for any candidate is simple: how will they turn a frustrating generation into a productive one?
Official statistics paint a sobering picture. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), over 90 percent of jobs held by young Cameroonians are in the informal sector, offering little stability or social protection. The youth unemployment rate for those aged 15–24 was 6.2 percent in 2024, but this figure masks deeper problems of underemployment and vulnerability, as most “employed” young people work in precarious conditions such as motorbike transport, petty trade, or day labour.
An ILO assessment of Cameroon’s 2024 Public Investment Budget estimated that 605 projects and 8,380 tasks could generate 235,714 work opportunities and 86,699 full-time equivalent jobs nationally. But this was a sharp decline from the 451,995 potential work opportunities identified in 2021, raising questions about whether investment is translating into lasting employment.
The result is a labour market that absorbs few, and frustrates many. A large share of youth are NEETs that is Not in Education, Employment or Training a status that reflects both missed opportunities and wasted potential.
Walk through Douala, Bamenda, or Garoua, and the picture is clear: the street is the biggest employer of youth. Motorbike riders ferry passengers for a living, street vendors hustle goods, while many others juggle “side jobs” in construction, digital freelancing, or delivery.
“We work every day but nothing to show for it. No insurance, no pension, and tomorrow if I fall sick, I am finished.”Ngeh Collins, a 27-year-old motorbike rider in Bamenda said.
This “informal survival economy” reflects the creativity of young Cameroonians but also their exclusion from formal systems of work, credit, and social protection.
Government has launched initiatives such as the National Employment Fund, youth insertion programmes, and skills training centres. Yet structural barriers likr bureaucracy, limited financing, and corruption in recruitment have blunted their impact.
The World Bank and ILO note that job creation remains hampered by weak links between training and market demand. Many university graduates find themselves unemployable in the very sectors driving growth, such as digital services, agribusiness, and renewable energy.
With few prospects at home, many young Cameroonians are leaving. The International Organisation for Migration reports that thousands attempt the perilous “backway” route through the Sahara and across the Mediterranean each year. Skilled professionals, from doctors to IT specialists, are also emigrating in search of stable opportunities abroad. The brain drain compounds local shortages in critical sectors, leaving Cameroon doubly disadvantaged.
The youth question is not abstract. It is immediate and existential. To win credibility, presidential candidates must answer a good number of questions in this area.
How will they reform education and training so young people graduate with employable skills?
What strategies will create formal jobs, not just informal hustles?
How will they support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which is the backbone of job creation?
What reforms will improve access to finance, particularly for youth and women entrepreneurs?
How will they address the migration crisis, ensuring that opportunity exists at home?
Cameroon’s youth are entrepreneurial, and connected to the world. They have proven they can innovate with little support. But frustration is mounting. As one university graduate put it: “We don’t want to survive. We want to live.”
The 2025 election may be the country’s chance to reset. Candidates who ignore the youth question do so at their peril. For Cameroon, investing in its young people is not just an electoral promise; it is the only path to national survival.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Newsroom
Email: hilltopvoicesnewspaper@gmail.com
Tel: 6 94 71 85 77
Bakah Derick is an award-winning Cameroonian journalist and mediapreneur, serving as Vice President in charge of International Relations at the Cameroon Journalists’ Trade Union and leading Hilltopvoices Communications Group Ltd to amplify community voices and governance issues. With nearly 20 years in the field, his impactful reporting spanning human rights, environmental protection, inclusive development, and sports has earned him prestigious honors such as the 2024 VIIMMA Humanitarian Reporter of the Year and more. Email: debakah2004@gmail.com Tel: +237 675 460 750
