Why high youth unemplyment in Zimbabwe?What measures are done to reduce the problem? 1 Executive Summary. The main objective of the paper is to discuss the causes of youth unemployment, identify the measures the government has taken to eradicate the problem and recommend possible solutions. This paper has recognised that in Zimbabwe unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular have been increasing despite government initiatives at both national and sectorial levels. The main causes of this are slow rate in job creation, high population growth rate and a mismatch between youth skills and job opportunities. This problem if not curtailed will result in a number of socio-economic and political problems. Improvement in the demand for youth employment has been recommended as the major solution. 2. Introduction In Zimbabwe, unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular have been increasing despite government initiatives at both national and sectorial levels. Youth unemployment is generally higher than general unemployment. Many studies including the Zimbabwe Poverty Assessment study (1995) agreed to this observation as they revealed that the youth have the highest unemployment rate among all the age groups in the labour force. . 3 Causes of youth unemployment 3.1 Many writers in this area have agreed that the main causes of general unemployment were as follows:  Slow rate of economic growth often caused by or aggravated by poor economic management. Poor economic management has led to high macroeconomic instability, which in turn has culminated in low investment, declining economic growth and high unemployment;  Low export growth and lack of balance of payment support resulting in a critical shortage of foreign currency;  High population growth;  Massive expansion in education and training, with the existing infrastructure unable to absorb the swelling numbers of youth seeking training opportunities; and  High rural-urban migration of youths, exacerbating urban unemployment. 3.2 Youth unemployment is higher than general unemployment because: