KABUL, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan unemployment rate has risen 2 percent to 27 percent in the outgoing Afghan year, with the number of jobless people continuing to grow, reported local media Tolo News TV on Sunday.
"Based on recent assessments, the unemployment rate has increased by 2 percent and this is a serious cause for concern," the report quoted Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled Faizullah Zaki as saying.
Afghan year 1396 which started on March 21, 2017 will end on March 20 this year.
An estimated 400,000 new workers enter the Afghan job market annually and the government should implement job creation projects and work more for the creation of job opportunities, the report said.
"Enormous unemployment problems exist in the country and still the problems are in place. The government's plans have not been effective in this regard to prevent an increasing rate of unemployment," Chairman of National Union of Afghanistan's Workers and Employees, Maroof Qaderi, was cited in the report.
Local observers believe that unemployment has been one of the reasons behind the poverty and one of the main causes of continuous insurgency in the poverty-stricken country.
