ILO consults African youth on jobs crisis

ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) – The ILO is dedicating the month of March 2012 to hold national events in 12 African countries from the five sub-regions to hear young people’s views on the alarming youth employment situation.

The youngest population in the world comes from Africa. Youngsters make up more than two thirds of this region’s population, yet they are more likely than adults to be unemployed. This serious jobs gap needs to be addressed rapidly or else it could translate into social tensions as recently witnessed during the Arab Spring.

Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and more than 30 other countries all over the world are organizing national events on youth employment - the main theme to be discussed at the annual International Labour Conference in June 201.

The urgency of youth employment is high on the policy agenda of African countries. March’s “Youth Employment Month” represents a major opportunity to look at how Africa and its youth view and voice their concerns, their hopes and aspirations and how their ideas and experiences can be reflected in the debate.

The Youth Forum will be held in Geneva in May 2012, with some one hundred young people from employers’, workers’ and youth organizations from across the world. The key issues discussed at the Forum will be presented at the Conference which brings together more than 3000 representatives from governments, employers and workers.

75 million youth worldwide are currently unemployed and more than 150 million young people are living on less than $1.25 a day. The ILO has warned that this situation risks creating a “lost generation” and is a threat to social cohesion