Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his report to the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations, stated:

Together with the heads of the World Bank and the International Labour Organization, I am convening a high-level policy network on youth employment – drawing on the most creative leaders in private industry, civil society and economic policy to explore imaginative approaches to this difficult challenge. I will ask this policy network to propose a set of recommendations that I can convey to world leaders within a year. The possible sources of solutions will include the Internet and the informal sector, especially the contribution that small enterprises can make to employment generation.

Twelve eminent persons were invited to become members of the high-level panel of the Youth Employment Network and act in an advisory capacity to provide their views and experience on how to best address youth employment issues. In addition to the high-level panelists, the Network involves a number of technical partners that play an active role in promoting productive and decent work for young women and men and whose knowledge and experience can enrich the work of the Network.

The recommendations set out herein are the result of consultations and deliberations among the high-level panel members, taking into consideration the views of a wide range of technical members, youth organizations and those of the secretariat of the Network, composed of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office.

2. A new approach, a new political commitment and a new partnership for full employment

The recommendations are based on a new approach, the new political commitment given at the Millennium Summit and a new partnership between national governments and global organisations for full employment:

• first, youth are an asset in building a better world today – not a problem. In the next ten years 1.2 billion young women and men will enter into the working age population, the best educated and trained generation of young people ever, a great potential for economic and social development;
• second, Heads of State and Government at the Millennium Summit gave a firm political commitment to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work;
• third, there is great potential for improving the employment situation through the integration of public policies for young women and men in overall employment policies and by making full employment an overarching goal for global economic and social strategies and for national policies.

2.1. A new approach: Youth are an asset, not a problem

There are more than one billion young women and men in the world today, the majority of whom live in developing countries. Across the globe, they are making important contributions as innovators, entrepreneurs, productive workers, consumers, citizens and members of civil society. They are at the forefront of the information and communications technologies revolution. They are societies’ artists and athletes. Their culture enriches our societies and can be a force for positive change in cultural values. In short, young people are an asset, invaluable partners for economic and social development, bringing creativity, enthusiasm and leadership to the table.

Rapid globalisation and fast-paced technological developments have already offered many young women and men unprecedented opportunities for education, innovation and productive, rewarding work. Those young people entering the work force form a new generation with great capacity, the best educated and trained generation of young women and men ever.

But for millions of others, globalization and technological change have created uncertainty and insecurity by exacerbating their already vulnerable situations, widening the gap between young entrants into the labour force and experienced workers, between those young women and men with well paid and productive work and those with low wage and poor quality jobs. Many young people are failing to gain a firm foothold in the labour market. They are ending up with no job at all, working fewer hours than they would wish or else working in low-paid, dead-end jobs, mainly in the informal sector, with little protection, security or effective voice, and no real prospects for the future. Their individual experiences are further influenced by factors such as gender, ethnicity, geographical location and the state of development of the countries in which they live. However, statistics, sobering as they are, reveal little of the heavy toll that unemployment and underemployment take on young women and men, their families and communities through economic hardship, human suffering, social exclusion, lost production and wasted human potential. Not surprisingly, there is a sense of frustration and hopelessness among those who feel left behind by the knowledge economy and the network society.

Young people are now asking that their voices be heard, that their issues be addressed and that their roles be recognized. Rather than being viewed as a target group for which employment must be found, they want to be accepted as partners for development, helping to chart a common course and shaping the future for everyone. Over the next ten years, their number will reach almost 1.2 billion, with relative declines in the youth population of industrialised and transitional countries being more than offset by the increases in developing regions, where the majority of young people will continue to live. The expected inflow of young people into the labour market, rather than being viewed as a problem, should be recognized as presenting an enormous opportunity and potential for economic and social development.

We, members of the Secretary-General’s panel, recommend that the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office invite the youth of the world to build a strong alliance:

• to get young people recognised as an asset for economic and social development;
• to create an understanding that young people are a diverse group with various needs based on factors such as gender, ethnicity, geographical location and the economic development of the countries in which they live;
• to advocate more inclusive employment policies to fully utilise the potential of all young people.

2.2. A new political commitment: Decent and productive work for young people everywhere

The challenge for all societies is to generate sufficient opportunities for all young people to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity, a working life that makes full use of their talents, abilities and aspirations. This challenge is enormous. Heads of State and Government took an important step in mobilizing international action at the Millennium Summit by resolving to develop and implement strategies that give young women and men everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work. They made this commitment on behalf of their governments. The time has now come for national governments to translate the political commitments of the national leaders into public policies, at global and national level – policies to make the next generation of young people the first “decent work generation”. The first step is to mobilise all national and local actors to be part of the commitment.

We, members of the Secretary-General’s panel, recommend that the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office invite all Heads of State and Government to mobilise national and local actors to review, rethink and reorient past policies and implement new policies to fulfil the commitment to decent work for young people, given at the Millennium Summit.

2.3. A new partnership: A global strategy, national action plans

The next step is to embark upon a new way of policy making, based on a clear recognition of the different responsibilities and roles of the UN system, national governments, employers, trade unions and civil society for employment policies.

The UN, the World Bank and the ILO will contribute by offering well- coordinated global strategies with employment as the overarching goal. The ILO has taken the lead in preparing a New Global Agenda for Employment, which will form the basis for strategic alliances between the UN agencies and the Bretton Woods Institutions. This New Global Agenda responds to the call of the twenty-fourth Special Session of the General Assembly entitled "World Summit for Social Development and beyond: achieving social development for all in a globalising world" for the ILO to develop a “coherent and coordinated international strategy on employment.” The alliance between the UN, the World Bank and the ILO on the Youth Employment Initiative is serving as a model for initiatives in other fields. The whole international community will be engaged and provide vision and leadership in addressing this truly global problem. In this way the international community also will help integrate youth employment as an important dimension in major forthcoming international events, including preparations for Johannesburg 2002: the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio +10), where economic and social, as well as environmental, sustainability will be a central concern.

Strategies can be shaped at global level, but policies and action plans have to be developed at national level. Here, government leadership is fundamental. A critical and self-critical review of past national policies is essential in the preparations of national action plans. An open attitude to learn from more successful countries is another element. Equally important, policies and programmes should be based not only on the needs of young people, but also on the strengths that they bring to businesses, communities and societies. For this to happen perceptions about young people need to change. Furthermore, governments need to take onboard an integrated concept for employment policy. Employment policy is not a sectoral policy among others: it is rather the successful mobilisation of all public policies with the aim of getting people into full and productive employment.

While government leadership is critical, governments cannot do it alone. Business also has a substantial interest in making the most of youth potential, and in avoiding the negative consequences of widespread youth unemployment. Employers recognize that employing young people is good for business, as they bring to the workplace enthusiasm, energy, commitment, new ideas and the willingness to embrace change. There is also a role for networks and partnerships among governments at national and local levels, employers’ organizations, trade unions, youth organizations and other civil society groups to learn from each other and to pool efforts and resources.

The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work provides a basic set of principles that, when adhered to, will help provide decent work for young people.

We, members of the Secretary-General’s panel, recommend that the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office develop a new partnership between their organisations and national governments  in catalysing action for youth employment, where strategies are developed at a global level, while policies and action plans are developed at a national level.

Civil society, the business community, employers, trade unions and youth organizations should also be invited to contribute to policy making and implementation at both global and national levels.

3. Four top priorities for all national action plans: employability; equal opportunities between young men and women; entrepreneurship; employment creation  

There are many paths to success. However, across a variety of countries and different levels of economic and social development, a few common elements should be regarded as top priorities in every national action plan:

• Employability: invest in education and vocational training for young people – and improve the impact of these investments;
• Equal opportunities: give young women the same opportunities as young men;
• Entrepreneurship: make it easier to start and run enterprises to provide more and better jobs for young women and men;
• Employment creation: place employment creation at the centre of macro-economic policy.

Information and communications technologies offer significant potential for welfare enhancement and employment generation among young people, and their impact on each of the priority elements should be fully considered in every action plan. Here, emphasis must be placed on closing the digital divide within and between countries.

3.1. Employability

In the world today, there are too many people lacking the necessary education and relevant training for good, productive jobs and there are too many unproductive jobs with poor remuneration. Education begins with literacy, and in spite of vast improvements, there is still a huge literacy gap. In many countries, training remains largely unrelated to labour market needs. Young people often lack access to the labour market services and support needed to help them secure decent and productive work. It is time to break the vicious circle of poor education and training, poor jobs and poverty. All countries need to review, rethink and reorient their education, vocational training and labour market policies to facilitate the school to work transition and to give young people – particularly those who are disadvantaged because of disabilities or who face discrimination because of race, religion or ethnicity – a head start in working life. Each country should set objectives and targets based on best practice/best performance for investment in education and training and other employability strengthening measures, leading to jobs and social justice for the young.

3.2. Equal opportunities for young women and men

In many countries, where boys and girls have equal access to education, girls are doing better than boys at school. In a great many countries girls are not getting the same education opportunities as boys with serious gender gaps in literacy as a consequence. Regardless of these differences in education systems, young women have in general greater difficulties than young men in entering – and staying in – the world of work, because of discriminatory policies, structural barriers and cultural prejudices. All countries need to review, rethink and reorient their policies to ensure that there are equal opportunities for young women when they enter the workforce and throughout their working lives. Each country should set objectives and targets to rectify the gender disparities in access to education, training and labour markets, and develop and implement the necessary gender sensitive policies in these areas.

3.3. Entrepreneurship

There are too few employers and hence too few job opportunities in the world. Cumbersome procedures and regulations hamper the start up of new businesses. All countries need to review, rethink and reorient the legal and institutional framework for business to make it easier to start and run a business. Governments and international organizations should make it a top priority to obtain real, reliable and relevant data on the informal economy and on the rules and procedures required to set up and operate a new business within a legal framework. Based on a better understanding of the institutional obstacles, policies should be developed to allow this part of the economic system to be integrated into the mainstream economy and raise its productivity through legal facilitation. This review should be combined with respect for labour standards, which should be seen as a basic element in achieving productivity and prosperity.

Governments at national and local level need to encourage a broad and dynamic concept of entrepreneurship to stimulate both personal initiative and initiatives in a broad variety of organizations which include, but reach beyond, the private sector: small and large enterprises, social entrepreneurs, cooperatives, the public sector, the trade union movement and youth organizations. Countries also need to strengthen policies and programmes so that small enterprises can flourish and create decent work within an enabling environment. Each country should set objectives and targets for a broad reform programme, based on best practice, which process can offer more flexibility for enterprises and more security for workers.

3.4  Employment creation

Employability, equal opportunities and entrepreneurship, to be most effective, require an enabling environment where employment creation is placed at the centre of macro-economic and other public policies. Employability requires not just appropriate skills and training, but also public policies which lead to new employment opportunities where these skills can be used. Investing in youth requires not just better skilled youth, but a commitment by public and private sector partners to keep job creation as a central concern of their investment strategies. Equality should follow a high road leading to increased opportunities for both women and men; and entrepreneurship should be supported not only through structural measures, but also through growth-oriented macro-economic policies so that enterprises can sustain themselves.

We, members of the Secretary-General’s panel, recommend that the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office invite Heads of State and Government to translate these four global priorities for a decent work strategy for young people into national action plans with targets for the creation of jobs and for the reduction of unemployment, and to take personal responsibility for presenting these plans to the UN by September 2002 on the basis of the political commitment given at the Millennium Assembly.

4. The way forward: urgency, long-term commitment and partnership

Translating these global priorities into national action plans is only a start towards meeting the common goal of decent and productive employment for young people. An objective of these plans is to launch a policy dialogue and to mobilize partners for action. They will demonstrate the potential contribution which youth employment can make towards implementing national poverty reduction strategies and thereby contributing to the international goal, agreed at the Millennium Summit, of halving extreme poverty by the year 2015.

There are two time horizons for this exercise. First, work must start immediately – in all countries – to get the national action plans ready by September 2002. It is urgent and therefore requires leadership from the highest political level. Heads of State and Government should make this task a top priority of their governments.

As a catalyst to this process, the high-level panel recommends that Heads of State and Government from ten countries be encouraged to volunteer to take the lead in the review and renewal of employment policies for youth, and be supported in this process with policy guidance and technical support from the ILO, the United Nations and the World Bank, so that their experiences can be shared with all other countries in developing their action plans.

Second, there is no quick fix: it requires long-term commitment. The review, rethinking and reorientation of national policies will have to be an ongoing process with political impetus over many years, through elections and changes in governments. That is why broad coalitions and partnerships at the local, national and international levels are needed with employers, trade unions, local governments, youth organisations and other key players coming from civil society.

The UN, the World Bank and the ILO will work to provide governments and employers, trade unions, local government, youth organizations and other key players in civil society with relevant and up-to-date indicators on youth employment, including data on the informal economy, on the costs occasioned by procedures for starting and operating enterprises and on the social and economic costs of youth unemployment. The purpose of this information is to help governments formulate objectives and targets as well as to develop new policies to promote youth employment. A list of specific recommendations, which could assist governments and other actors in this regard, is provided in the attached document: Decent work for young people: a guide for action.

Furthermore, when Heads of State and Government have presented their national action plans by September 2002, the UN, the World Bank and the ILO should support governments by making an analysis of the national action plans. This could be done on the basis of the ILO Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122). The result of this exercise will be presented in September 2003 and the conclusions will be used for the preparations of the next steps in a longer-term process.

We, members of the Secretary-General’s panel, recommend that the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office provide guidance and organise technical support over the next years for the policy making process, with the ILO having lead responsibility for this effort. We furthermore commit ourselves to assist the heads of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office as they support governments, social partners and youth organisations both to take immediate action and to build long-term commitment to youth employment.