Reducing Poverty Through Employment

Abstract

Widespread poverty is an urgent challenge for the world. Creating opportunities for steady employment at reasonable wages is the best way to take people out of poverty. Reducing poverty through employment requires two major thrusts: 1) generate employment, and 2) increase employability. To increase employment, I argue for focusing on small and medium sized enterprises, which are the main engine of job creation. To increase employability, a good starting place to focus on is the youth. This paper describes in detail two organizations, TechnoServe and Employment Generation & Marketing Mission, which are implementing these ideas and effectively helping to reduce poverty.