W4Y Databases

youthSTATS

The youthSTATS database is a response to the need for reliable statistics to inform policies on youth employment challenges worldwide. It contains a comprehensive set of indicators on the labour market situation of young people between the ages of 15 and 29 years in the developing world. We have pooled resources with Understanding Childrens’ Work (UCW) to tabulate a large array of youth labour market indicators from an inventory of over 150 micro data files of household-based surveys run in over 70 countries. Users are able to browse and export a selection of 50 indicators grouped according to 12 themes to develop in-depth situational analyses of young people’s labour market situation.

The database is a work in progress but is currently available at www.youthstatistics.org. We continue to add more countries and more years and even more indicators from our inventory of micro datasets. We will be expanding the platform to include entirely new datasets as well, including the ILO's school-to-work transition surveys that will be underway in 28 countries over the next year.

Official website

youthPOL

The youthPOL database is a global inventory of youth employment policies. Such information – including national policies, policy frameworks and legislation – is vital for policy-makers seeking to promote decent work for youth. Significantly, the 101st International Labour Conference in Geneva identified that one area of future ILO action should be to “strengthen its work on knowledge development and dissemination of information on youth employment”, especially on youth employment policies and programmes, and to “disseminate findings through global databases.”

The database will focus on interventions specifically designed for young people, as well as those for the wider labour market. Relevant policies are first analysed through a questionnaire and classified according to various characteristics such as policy area, target group and implementation strategies. The questionnaire will be available online over the next month for relevant ILO constituents and consultants to complete. Then, the next step within the team is to develop the analytical software allowing users to make graphical comparisons across countries, policy areas, and more. The database is expected to serve as a vital tool for the Youth Employment Programme and its intervention model.

Website coming soon

Good Practices

The initiative on good practices on youth employment initiatives is a partnership between the ILO Youth Employment Programme and University of Colima, Mexico. It was launched in March 2012 with the aim of identifying and sharing programmes, projects or practices that proved effective in promoting decent work for young people. More than 100 practices from over 50 countries were submitted in only one month. The proposed initiatives were reviewed by teams of colleagues, established by each Regional Office. Five practices (one per region) were identified and programme managers were invited to present these practices at the ILO Youth Employment Forum in May 2012.

A second phase of the project is being launched to expand the number of good practices identified within the database. This phase will include projects that deal with a wide range of subjects that are critical to the promotion of decent work for youth.

Official website