The unemployment situation of young people: statistical dimensions

Pekka Aro, Director IFP/SKILLS, ILO

The ILO estimates that around 66 million young women and men are unemployed throughout the world. This means that young people account for about 41 per cent of the globally 160 million persons who are classified as unemployed (1) - declaring themselves to be without work, to be searching for work and/or available for work.

Rates of youth unemployment are very high in many countries. Out of the 98 economies for which recent information is available, no less than 51 have youth unemployment rates of over 15 per cent. In the Latin American and Caribbean Region, this includes countries such as Jamaica, 34 per cent; Dominica, 41 per cent; and Saint Lucia, 44 per cent.

When compared to adult rates, youth unemployment rates around the globe are typically two to three times higher than the adult rates. Data comparing youth and adult unemployment rates are available for 62 economies, and in every case, except Germany, the youth unemployment rate is significantly higher

Young women typically face poorer employment prospects: A review of 97 economies reveals that young women are more likely to be unemployed in two thirds of them. In many cases the differences are marginal, but in others they are indeed significant. For example, over a quarter of industrialized countries have female youth unemployment rates exceeding those of the males by more than 20 per cent. Even more striking, almost half of 34 economies surveyed in the Caribbean and Latin America have female youth unemployment rates more than 50 per cent higher. Examples include Brazil (18 per cent for female youth compared to 12 per cent for male youth), Uruguay (30 per cent compared to 20 per cent), Belize (35 per cent compared to 15 per cent), Dominican Republic (44 per cent compared to 21 per cent), Suriname (45 per cent compared to 13 per cent) and Jamaica (46 per cent compared to 24 per cent).

Unfortunately, not only is the youth employment situation poor, but in global terms, it seems to be deteriorating. Around the world, youth unemployment rose by 8 million between 1995 and 1999, and youth unemployment rates have increased in countries such as Japan (from 6 per cent in 1995 to 9 per cent in 2000), Czech Republic (from 8 per cent in 1995 to 17 per cent in 1999), Ukraine (14 per cent in 1995 to 22 per cent in 1998), Slovakia (from 25 per cent in 1995 to 32 per cent in 1999), Colombia (from 13 per cent in 1994 to 24 per cent in 1998), Venezuela (from 19 per cent in 1995 to 26 per cent in 1999) and South Africa (from 45 per cent in 1998 to 56 per cent in 2000). The worsening unemployment situation is aggravated, in both developed and developing economies, by underemployment where people are working much less than their capacities would permit or that they might want.

Amidst the gloom, there are some countries, mainly, but not exclusively, in the developed world, where youth unemployment is not high. For example, in Austria, Switzerland, Singapore and Mexico less than one in 12 young workers are unemployed. Since the rnid-9190s, previously high youth unemployment rates have fallen in some countries, including Ireland (from 19 per cent in 1995 to 8 per cent in 1999), Spain from 40 per cent in 1995 to 28 per cent in 1999), Hungary (from 19 per cent in 1995 to 12 per cent in 1999) and Barbados (from 38 per cent in 1995 to 22 per cent in 1999). Nevertheless, the overall youth unemployment challenge remains daunting, especially in developing countries and in some countries in transition.

Qualitative aspects of youth unemployment and underemployment

Rapid globalisation and fast-paced technological developments have 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 arc failing to gain a firm foothold in the labour market. They end up either with no job at all, or in low-paid, dead-end jobs with little protection, security or effective voice, and no real prospects for the future. Hundreds of millions more young women and men work fewer hours than they wish, and still others, largely in developing countries - where 85 per cent of the world's young people live - work long hours with little gain and no social protection in the informal economy.

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.

It is now widely recognised that knowledge and skills are an important determinant of economic growth and social development. Education and training systems play a crucial role in fostering the development of the knowledge and skills needed by young people to succeed in the labour market. At the same time the skills demanded in the labour market must be complemented by skills that foster the social networks, norms and values necessary to support well functioning democracies. Schools and institutions of learning must help create these values.

Education and training systems also have, an important role to play in preparing young people to adapt to rapid labour market changes. Young people already employed are being affected by the obsolescence of skills and rapid changes in work organisation, and must be prepared to continue learning to cope with these developments. At the same time, access to a relevant knowledge base during a time of rapid change will provide enterprises with a major source of competitive advantage. For ensuring both business competitiveness and continuing worker employability, the institutionalisation of lifelong learning must become a key objective. In some countries, this has become a leading issue in collective bargaining, with major individual employers organisations and trade unions actively creating, and participating in initiatives that promote continuous training. There is need for incentives that promote increased and continuous investment in training and learning and for co-financing mechanisms for lifelong learning.

The gender dimensions of education and training are important in eliminating gender inequality, poverty and unemployment. Young women are sometimes excluded from certain training opportunities because of gender biases in vocational guidance, recruitment, family responsibilities, as well as cultural factors that continue to proscribe their choices. As a result, many young women are not pursuing fields of studies that match their abilities and aspirations, and that could provide them with tile base to enter better-paid and rewarding occupations.

Yet, there are still too many young people who lack the necessary education 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. It is necessary to break the vicious circle of poor education and training, poor jobs and poverty.

In many countries, where boys and girls have equal access to education, girls are doing better than boys at school. However, in a great many others, girls are not getting the same education opportunities as boys with serious gender gaps in literacy as a consequence. Regardless 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.

Existing inequalities are being reinforced by the unequal access to and use of ICT through a growing digital divide. While ICT are permeating all aspects of economic and social life and digital literacy is becoming a fundamental requirement for a growing number of occupations, many young people are not acquiring such competencies. This is particularly true for young women, giving rise to a digital divide, which in many countries has a gender element

While connectivity in schools is a powerful means of "democratising" access and overcoming divides based on family income and personal ownership of a computer, imparting digital literacy through the education system remains a formidable challenge to most developing countries, because of a number of constraints.

Community-based ICT access points or mobile learning centres may be the only feasible options for many countries in the immediate future. Many local communities have been adopting innovative approaches to setting up shared facilities, acquiring the necessary computer hardware and software and establishing Internet connectivity. These efforts have involved private companies, trade unions, and service clubs among other groups, and have generally targeted low-income communities and those with special needs.

The facilities could also serve the "digital" needs of other young people who have already left the formal education system. some of whom may be illiterate or semiliterate and who would otherwise be excluded from the information society. For this latter group, programmes that combine basic education and digital literacy with entrepreneurship awareness, life skills. personal health and finance appear most effective in improving their employment opportunities. Here, local support groups and youth-to-youth mentoring programmes could also play a role in reaching out to them and addressing their special educational needs.

There are other risks emerging.

As jobs expand in high-skilled occupations, new skilled-based inequalities are developing, placing even greater pressure on education and training systems to respond to these new challenges. Sadly, many are failing behind, especially those in developing countries, with the gap between what is required and what is being delivered widening. This gap is reflected in the growing number of young people who are graduating from education and training system and are unable to obtain productive work, although in some countries, there are severe skill shortages in some areas. Admittedly, this is becoming increasingly difficult to anticipate because of rapid technological changes, economic restructuring and keener competition. Whereas the systematic involvement of employers' organisations and trade unions could help address this problem this has not always occurred.

Education and training systems are also failing to adequately respond to the needs of small and micro-enterprises, despite the fact that in developing countries, this is where most opportunities lie. Indeed, appropriate education and training could play an important role in helping transform survival activities into more viable enterprises.

It is against this background that the Secretary-General has established the Youth Employment Network. In his report to the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations, he states:

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.

Through consultations and deliberations among the Youth Employment Network's high-level panel, its technical members and its Secretariat, composed of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Labour Office, a series of draft recommendations has been prepared and will be presented to the Secretary General in keeping with his request.

Although there are twelve recommendations, the emphasis is placed on three or four. Employability is one issue being emphasized together with equal opportunities.

With respect to employability, the call will be made for "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".

With respect to equal opportunity, a similar call is being made for all countries "to review, rethink and reorient their policies to ensure that there are equal opportunities for young women when they enter working life. 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".

The specific recommendation on education and training is as follows:

Recognizing the severity of the constraints oil raising revenue in many countries, advocate an increase in domestic resource allocation and external grant assistance for education of at least an additional $8 billion a year as recommended in the Dakar and Geneva Declarations. This effort requires recognition of the centrality of the goal of education for all, a strengthened national and international commitment to increasing revenue both domestically and internationally and sustaining a focus on reaching the targets in the coming decades.

• Expanding access for all children to basic education,

• Improving the quality of basic education, including participation and successful completion rates;

• Taking specific actions to promote girls' education in line with the Ten Year United Nations Girls'Education Initiative, launched during the Dakar World Education Forum;

• Giving special attention to disadvantaged groups, such as young people in rural areas and those with disabilities;

• Adopting imaginative initiatives and creative programmes to encourage young people to remain at school, at least until basic literacy and numeracy have been achieved, and which will provide opportunities for early school -leavers. including adolescent mothers, to continue their education;

• Providing incentives and support to poor families to ensure that child workers are taken out of the workplace, rehabilitated and provided with the opportunity to attend school;

• Developing learning opportunities for young adults with little or no schooling to obtain basic numeracy and literacy together with life and livelihood skills;

• Providing "new start" or "repeat" education opportunities for those that fail or prematurely had to leave school.

C. Improve the accessibility, relevance and effectiveness of secondary and higher education and technical and vocational training so that both young women and men will be better equipped to take advantage of opportunities in the labour market and to cope with fast paced changes in the world of work by:

• Providing access to vocational training as a fundamental right in the provision of decent work;

• Promoting closer links between technical skills curricula and labour market needs and combining them with soft and other support skills needed for labour market success. through increased cooperation among employers' organizations, trade unions, training and education institutions and industry;

• Developing or improving training systems that raise skill levels and facilitate a smooth transition from school to work, through a combination of off-the-job vocational education and programmes of learning and structured training in the workplace, either in apprenticeship based arrangements or vocational skill pathways;

• Promoting equal access to technical and vocational training and higher education by providing gender-sensitive vocational guidance and counselling and by encouraging girls and young women to enter into male-dominated fields of study that offer avenues to new and promising work opportunities;

• Promoting a learning culture and establishing a framework for lifelong learning that through the creation of incentives and cost-sharing mechanisms encourages continuous investment in education and training by enterprises and by young people;

• Developing and improving competency- based standards, national qualification frameworks and nationally accredited training systems, in partnership with employer's organizations, trade unions, education authorities and training providers, to ensure the quality of public and private sector training and the portability of skills;

• Setting challenging but achievable targets for higher participation levels in post-basic education.

 

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(1) ILO. Key Indicators of the Labour Market 2001, Chapter 10.

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