Today's global youth population is at a historical high of more than 1.5 billion. At a time when 89 percent of these young people live in developing countries, many are unable to secure decent work, as youth are on average three times as likely to be unemployed as adults. In the last ten years, the world's youth population grew by 10.5 percent while youth employment only grew by 0.2 percent. The International Labour Organization is also estimating that another 1 billion young people will enter the world's labor market within the next ten years. It is highly unlikely enough jobs will be created to employ the number of young jobseekers who will enter the labor market this decade.

The world is experiencing a youth employment crisis. It is critical that a multi-sectoral community identifies and pursues innovative approaches for creating economic and entrepreneurial opportunities for youth people.


With this backdrop, Making Cents International will convene practitioners, donors, educators, youth, members of the private sector, representatives of governments, and other partners in youth enterprise, employment, and livelihood development for the 2009 Global Youth Enterprise Conference. These conference participants are part of a growing community committed to investing in young people, and the innovations necessary to ensure programs and policies achieve greater impact, sustainability, and scale. Making Cents supports this community regularly meeting to share lessons learned, promising practices, and new ideas that create economic opportunities for young people.