2011 Youth unemployment rates adjusted to account for reduced labour force participation
Extremely adverse labour market conditions lead many youth to give up the job search altogether or to decide to postpone it and continue their stay in the education system. According to the ILO's "Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012", the crisis induced withdrawal from the labour force amounts to 6.4 million young people worldwide.
Adjusting the youth unemployment rate to account for reduced labour force participation can be obtained by comparing pre-crisis trends in youth labour force participation and the ILO’s estimates of the economically active population. In the figure below, such a comparison is made for each region in 2011, and separately for young men and women.
For instance, if the unemployment rate is adjusted for drop-out induced by the economic crisis, the global youth male unemployment rate would rise from 12.4 to 13.6 per cent, and the global youth female unemployment rate would rise from 13.0 to 13.5 per cent.
Source: ILO calculations based on ILO, Trends Econometric Models, October 2011, and ILO (2011d), Economically Active Population Estimates and Projections, 6th edition.
For instance, if the unemployment rate is adjusted for drop-out induced by the economic crisis, the global youth male unemployment rate would rise from 12.4 to 13.6 per cent, and the global youth female unemployment rate would rise from 13.0 to 13.5 per cent.