“We should not—and we cannot—lose this generation.”
(A. Alhindawi, UN Special Envoy for Youth)
Unprecedented levels of unemployment and under-employment of young people, along with the stress associated with joblessness, is creating a “scarring” effect on an entire generation. This is a worrisome finding of the new flagship report on youth employment from the International Labour Organization (ILO) presented at the United Nations (UN) in New York today.
Globally, there are an estimated 73.4 million young people unemployed today representing an increase of 3.5 million since the start of the financial and economic crisis of 2007/2008.
The ILO, in collaboration with the Permanent Missions of Germany and Tunisia to the UN, brought together experts and advocates from around the world on 30 May to discuss the ongoing challenges young people face in finding decent work.
The Director of the ILO’s Office for the United Nations in New York, Telma Viale, noted that while the countries represented on the panel had different national experiences, they were united by a common concern to tackle the crisis and find a better future for today’s youth.
The Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN, Ambassador Peter Wittig, discussed the progress in his country in reducing youth unemployment largely through enhanced educational and technical training, including a vocational training pact between government and employers that offers every able young German an apprenticeship.
“We are facing multi-layered problems,” said Ambassador Wittig. “Germany supported the ILO Call for Action that will be presented later today with its multi-layered approach from the very beginning ... There are no magic one-size fits all solutions. But [this report] analyses the situation in different regions of the world and gives indications for specific recommendations that can be taken up by individual countries.”
Addressing the situation of the MENA region was Ambassador Mohamed Khaled Khiari, the Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the UN. He noted that unemployment rates among youth are the highest in the Middle East and North Africa, at 28.3 per cent and 23.7 per cent, respectively.
“All of us are aware that there is great deal of hard work, pragmatic and political will needed to change course,” Khiari stated. “We need to make employment the focus of our efforts at the national, regional and international levels.”
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, the ILO’s Assistant Director-General of Policy, who supervised the report, discussed the challenges facing advanced economies where youth unemployment was higher than 15 per cent in two thirds of the countries. He stated that young people in advanced economies were more likely to be overqualified for their positions and suffered long-term unemployment which is making it increasingly difficult to find future work.
In developing countries, the lack of education and a mismatch of skills between young people and labour market demand were more prevalent, limiting the potential for higher productivity growth.
“Large numbers of young people are not achieving their full economic potential,” said Mr. Salazar-Xirinachs. “The youth employment challenge in developing countries is as much a problem of poor employment quality as it is one of unemployment.”
The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhindawi, emphasized the large social cost that ongoing unemployment and underemployment is having on youth across the world.
“I know many young people who are frustrated and without work. Many have given up their search or have been employed in part-time jobs for years,” said Mr. Alhindawi. “We cannot postpone action on this critical issue any longer. We should not—and we cannot—lose this generation.”
