The World Bank says the global economic crisis has slowed job growth in Solomon Islands leading to fewer opportunities for thousands of young people in the country.
The Solomon Islands government has announced a six million US dollar urban employment project to give jobs and training to people on public works programmes, which is being funded by the World Bank and other partners.
The World Bank's country manager in Solomon Islands Edith Bowles says the global crisis has led to a reduction in GDP in Solomon Islands and a drop off in job opportunities.
"I don't think as far as we know, there has been a very large loss of employment, there has been some of loss of employment. I think the problem is more that new employment is not being created as fast. New employment is not created fast in Solomon Islands, and the global crisis is affecting the rate at which the market is producing new jobs."
Edith Bowles says this is affecting approximately seven-thousand new labourers and school leavers entering the job market every year.