Resources on youth employment

Promoting job creation for young people in multinational enterprises

01 September 2010

Liberia’s 14 year war left gaping holes in the infrastructure critical to investment and recovery and delayed a generation of youth from entering the labour market. Today, almost two-thirds of the population live in poverty. Youth between ages of 15 and 35 make up 53 per cent of the workforce, yet constitute 58 per cent of the unemployed. The integration of young people into the labour market is critical for overall economic development and in securing stability in a post-conflict country like Liberia. ILO Online asked Yukiko Arai, senior specialist in the ILO’s Multinational Enterprises Programme, how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can contribute to the generation of more quality jobs for local youth.
Youth employment in crisis: Questions and answers on the situation of youth on the labour market

14 July 2010

Young people have been disproportionately affected by the global crisis that broke out in the autumn of 2008. This trend has exacerbated earlier challenges and there is concern that unless action is taken, the situation of youth will become unsustainable, putting social cohesion at threat. Interview with Raymond Torres, Director of the International Institute for Labour Studies and Steven Tobin, ILO economist, co-authors of a new report entitled "Youth employment in crisis".
Decent Work in India - A triumph of enterprise: Sitabai’s story

09 March 2010

Last month, the ILO’s tripartite partners in India – the government, employers and workers – formally adopted a Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP for India). The new programme will focus on enhanced opportunities for productive work for women and men, particularly for youth and vulnerable groups. The experience of a worker in Madhya Pradesh province illustrates what the ILO Decent Work Agenda can mean for workers in the vast country.
Impacts of the global financial and economic crisis on child labour and youth employment

02 April 2009

The current economic slowdown - retrenchments in many formal economic sectors, reductions in working hours and downward pressure on household incomes - is placing increased pressure on vulnerable households and is likely to augment the incidence of child labour and youth unemployment and underemployment in the Asia and the Pacific region.
Breaking gender barriers: A young woman’s quest in a male-dominated profession

11 August 2008

One billion people will reach working age within the next decade – the best educated and best trained generation of young men and especially young women ever. But despite great efforts carried out by governments and social partners, the youth unemployment crisis is growing, and the gender barriers have yet to be overcome. Young people, particularly women in developing countries, need equal access to training and jobs. Then, as the story of Paula shows, all it often takes is determination.
Asian Employment Forum: Youth employment: “We are not the problem, we are the solution”

09 August 2007

According to the latest figures Asia’s 378 million-strong youth labour force accounts for more than one in five of the region’s total labour force and 58 per cent of the global youth labour force. Although the proportion of young people in the workforce is projected to decline by 2015, a new report prepared for the ILO’s Asian Employment Forum (to be held in Beijing on 13-15 August) says that for many countries in South East Asia and the Pacific, the youth employment challenge remains huge. ILO Online reports.
Wanted: Job with decent wage

27 October 2006

Youth unemployment is a persistent problem in Latin America, but there is also a need to improve the quality of jobs, according to a new report repared by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Luis Cordova reports from Santiago de Chile for ILO OnLine.
Youth employment: why Nikola can't afford to wait

27 October 2006

The EXIT Festival, a major European music event, started out being against war but now turns on efforts to combat youth unemployment. A new ILO report says that one out of every three youth in the world is either seeking but unable to find work, has given up the job search entirely or is working but still living below the US$2 a day poverty line. ILO Online reports from Novi Sad, Serbia.
Regional Meeting for the Americas 2-5 May: Youth employment in Latin America: Overcoming a lost decade

03 May 2006

In Latin America, 9.5 million young people out of 57 million aged 15-24 are unemployed. Victims of the "lost decade", they were born between 1980 and 1990 and represent 42 per cent of open unemployment in the region. According to the report prepared for the ILO Regional Meeting for the Americas, the situation is even worse if we take account of the 21 per cent of youth in the region who "do not work nor study". And millions of youth are trapped in temporary and casual jobs that offer no labour or social protection and few prospects for advancement. ILO Online reports from Bolivia.
Skill is power: broadening partnerships to promote youth employment

13 February 2006

According to ILO estimates, nearly half of the world's more than 190 million unemployed people are under the age of 24. A target of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is to give young people a chance to find decent and productive work. ILO Online reports from Jamaica where the National Training Agency and the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) promote learning opportunities and skills young people can use when they get out of school.