Global action is needed to address youth unemployment

A briefing on the new ILO report showed that although the employment crisis has eased globally, the recovery has been uneven and those finding work are frustrated with the low quality of these jobs.

News | 21 October 2015
“How does it feel to be unemployed” asked Ahmad Alhendawi, the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth. “If you’re constantly rejected, you start doubting yourself” said a youth representative.

The ILO, in collaboration with the Permanent Missions of Morocco and Spain, held a briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York on the findings of the newly released ILO report, entitled “Global Employment Trends for Youth”, and focused on the continuing labour market instability and structural trends.

The meeting brought together experts to discuss global labour markets for youth, both at global and regional levels, and provide an overview of the suggested policy interventions geared to improving youth employment prospects worldwide.

“Youth are the first ones out when the economy plunges and the last ones in when the recovery arrives”, noted Mr Ignacio Diaz De La Guardia, Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations. In view of the large numbers of young people entering the labour marked each year he stressed that jobs were not being created fast enough. The youth employment crisis might lead to a generation at risk of exclusion, which could have serious social and economic consequences.

At the same time, young people in employment could enable developing countries to achieve inclusive and sustained economic growth and social inclusion, noted Mr Tarik Iziraren, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Permanent Mission of Morocco to the United Nations. “Youth employment is a challenge and priority for all countries” stated Mr. Iziraren. He said that issues such as poverty, education, vocational training, social protection, employment etc. “should all be considered in addressing youth unemployment”.


As the main editor of the report, Azita Berar Awad, the Director of ILO’s Employment Policy Department, began her presentation of key findings of the report on a happy note: global youth unemployment has declined by 3.3 million. “The global youth unemployment rate had stabilized at 13%. Progress, however, was not even across regions” said Ms. Awad.


Ms Berar Awad pointed out that youth unemployment was not the only relevant indicator and that job quality and the school-to-work transition should be taken into account as well. In developing countries, for example, one in three young workers remained among the “working poor”. In low-income countries, nine in ten young workers were in informal employment. And in developed countries, young people were increasingly affected by job insecurity.

Ms Berar Awad called for a combination of macroeconomic policies targeting job creation, public and private investment in sectors that created jobs, interventions addressing education gaps and skills mismatches, as well as labour market policies.

Mr Iziraren, referred to the following policies that were being implemented in Morocco to support youth employment: assisting young people in finding their first job through incentives for employers; providing training to match skills with labour market requirements; and supporting young people to start their own business through financial and technical assistance. “A job is not only about income, it’s about the dignity of the person” stressed Mr Iziraren.

Participants highlighted the prominent role of decent work in the 2030 Development Agenda. According to Mr Diaz De La Guardia, this new agenda provided an opportunity for broad global partnerships and action on a more significant scale. He referred to a possible decade for youth employment that had been initiated by the Novia Salcedo Bilbao Foundation and was coordinated by the Government of Spain.

The Deputy Director of the ILO Office for the United Nations, Vinicius Pinheiro, reminded participants of target 8.b that calls for a global strategy for youth employment by the year 2020. It was stated that the youth employment indicators, presented in the report, can serve as a core baseline for the implementation and monitoring of targets included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In closing, Ms. Berar Awad recalled the importance of involving young people themselves in these discussions and emphasized that investment in youth employment pays off over the short-, medium- and long-term.