The Benchmarking Exercise is the Youth Employment Network’s (YEN) main tool to deliver policy advice and analyze measures to promote youth employment programs. YEN has identified a set of benchmarks that help to map the situation of youth in the labor market and inform about successful youth employment initiatives. These benchmarks were developed in consultation with YEN’s core partner agencies as well as members of the Lead Country Network. They aim at supporting policy makers and practitioners in their decision making through a better evidence base.
There are two main areas for benchmarks:
 
 
The first area for benchmarking consists in a set of eight indicators aiming to support diagnostic efforts of the conditions of youth in the labor market, provide relevant and robust measures of progress towards the targets of the employment-related Millennium Development Goals, and serve as a basis for international comparison.
The second area for benchmarking contextualizes these indicators with qualitative information on youth employment policies and programs.
These are complementary areas that will provide an overall panorama of the labor market conditions of youth and steps taken by the governments to better integrate this population into employment.
Youth Employment Indicators
Recognizing that decent and productive work for all is key to addressing poverty and hunger, MDG 1 includes a new target and new indicators. This new Target (MDG 1.B) - Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people - contains some indicators specifically and directly relating to employment issues, including youth employment.
The indicators below, organized by key areas of labor market performance/outcomes, are proposed for tracking progress on youth employment at the country level. It is recommended that all indicators be presented disaggregated by sex, youth age cohorts (15-19 and 20-24 year old), educational level, and rural/urban location whenever possible. Progress can be measured by undertaking trends analysis of these indicators, comparing indicators on an annual basis against those at the baseline year (i.e. starting year of reporting which will be 2009).
The eight Youth Labor Market Indicators (in detail) are:
Indicators mapping youth in the labor market
1: Distribution of youth by primary activity
2: Youth unemployment rate
3: Relaxed youth unemployment rate
4: Youth employment-to-population ratio
Indicators mapping employed youth in the labor market
5: Status of young workers in employment
6: Youth employment by sector
7: Public Sector in Public Sector Employment
Indicator linking education and the labor market
8: Educational attainment of youth labor force
Lead Countries participate regularly in the Benchmarking Exercise and accordingly report on their status of the youth labor market indicators and progress made in terms of policy and institutional arrangements. The YEN Secretariat then summarizes the information of the individual Lead Country and analyses the situation of youth and measures taken in a global Benchmarking report (link to last one, plus summary1). Building up on the results of this Benchmarking report, Lead Countries meet to discuss what opportunities these results present for policy making. Additionally, they share experiences and knowledge on youth employment initiatives which can be replicated in peer Lead Countries. |
