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A105067 ACTRAV/ITC-ILO COURSE Trade Union Training on Capacity Building for Promoting Decent Work . Youth Employment Crisis: Contributing Factors, Challenges and Consequences for Inaction. Structure of the Presentation. Glance At The Global Youth Population
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A105067ACTRAV/ITC-ILO COURSETrade Union Training on Capacity Building for Promoting Decent Work Youth Employment Crisis: Contributing Factors, Challenges and Consequences for Inaction
Structure of the Presentation • Glance At The Global Youth Population • An Unprecedented Global Youth Unemployment Crisis • Global Youth Unemployment & Unemployment Rate • Vulnerable Employment & Hazardous Work • Not a Homogenous Group • Note of Caution! • Today’s Youth: Perspectives of Latin America and Africa • Some Realities About Youth Unemployment Crisis in Africa • Youth and Adults by Occupation • Labour Market Challenges Faced by Youth • Key Contributing Factors to the Global Youth Unemployment Crisis • Effects and Consequences for inaction
Glance At The Global Youth Population In 2012… • Nearly 17%, or 1.2 billion of the world’s population are between 15 and 24 years old. • 90% of them live in developing countries and 55% in Asia. Only 10% live in developed countries. • At least 10% of the youth are not in education, employment or training (NEET). • The average age of Africa’s population is 19 and about 70% of the continent’s population is below 30 years. • By 2050 roughly ½ of the planet’s extra 2.3 billion people will be in Africa.
An Unprecedented Youth Employment Crisis… • Of the world’s estimated 200 million unemployed, about 75 million are youth, which is 4 million more than in 2007. • 4 out every 10 unemployed worldwide is a young woman or man. • With a 12.7% unemployment rate, young people are 3 times more likely than adults to be out of a job. • This high unemployment rate does not take count of the at least 6 million youth, mostly in developed countries, who had given up job search.
Global Youth Unemployment and Unemployment Rate – 2005 to 2012
Developing Countries • Open unemployment and discouragement are important but not the main issues. • The main concerns are: - Working poverty; - Educated but unemployed; - The NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training). • The ILO estimates that more than 200 million young people work but earn under US$ 2 a day, mostly in the informal economy of developing countries. • The highly educated youth face longer job searches than the less or not educated.
Developed economies • The concerns are not just about unemployment and discouragement; But also: • The increased proportion of young people in temporary employment and part-time work; • Serial internships for graduates; • In the EU, the number of young employees with Temporary Contracts increased from 35% (2000) to 42.2% (2011). • In most OECD countries, unemployment is higher among the lesser educated youths.
Globally, young people are on average nearly 2 to 3 times more likely than adults to be unemployed
Vulnerable Employment & Hazardous Work • Millions of young people are trapped in temporary, involuntary part-time or casual work that offers few or no benefits and limited prospects for advancement. • Many more young people are working long hours for low pay, struggling to eke out a living in the informal economy. • An estimated 59 million young people between 15 and 17 years old are engaged in hazardous forms of work.
Not a Homogenous Group • Youth are not a homogenous group: factors such as gender, age, education, social background, origin, disability, HIV & AIDS, or being a migrant, caused further disadvantages. • The combination of these dimensions make transition to decent work more difficult for youth. • Young women tend to have more difficulty finding work than young men.
A Note of Caution! • Unless immediate and vigorous action is taken, the global community confronts the grim legacy of a lost generation and this puts the future survival of trade unions at stake. • Investing in youth is investing in the present and future of our societies. • Firm political will, creativity and a commitment of resources on a sustainable basis as well as the building of partnerships at all levels are necessary to overturn the youth unemployment crisis.
Today’s Youth: Perspectives of Latin America and Africa • Youth in Latin America and Africa account for the largest segment of the regions’ labour force. • Most of the youth were born in the 1980s – the so-called “lost decade.” • They have grown-up in the midst of numerous and big transformations in the world of work: - Globalisation, Free Market Economy and Neo-liberalism; - Massive migration; - Higher demand & use of information technologies + languages; - Significant labour market reforms in some countries. • The youth of the two regions are more educated than any previous generations.
Continues… • These youth have witnessed their regions’ labour markets become precarious and fragmented. • They are doubtful about whether education & labour market are actual vehicles to progress. • The two regions have increasing rate of uprooted and excluded young people who are loosing faith in institutions, including trade unions. • Youth to adult unemployment ratios are high in the two regions.
Some Realities About Youth Unemployment Crisis in Africa • 72% of Africa’s youth population live on less than $2 a day (with rates surpassing 80% in countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia and Burundi). • The informal economy employs about 90% of the working age population in Africa’s poorest countries. • 38% of Africa’s working youth is presently working in Agriculture. • Africa created 73 million jobs (2000 – 2008) but only 16 million youth aged between 15-24 years benefitted.
Continues… • 9 out of 10 top countries with the youngest populations in the world are in Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Uganda, and Soa Tome & Principe). • Whereas the proportion of young people is projected to decline worldwide, it is expected to stay at the same level in Africa for the foreseeable future. • Combined with population growth, this means that the number of young people in Africa will double by 2045. • By 2040, Africa will have the largest workforce (1 billion) in the world, surpassing both China and India.
Continues… • All of the African countries analysed demonstrated higher youth than adult unemployment rates, with most experiencing youth unemployment rates more than twice the adult rate. • The problem is particularly acute in North Africa, where 27.1% of the young were estimated to be unemployed in 2011; and • The ratio of youth-to-adult unemployment rates estimated at 3.9% – compared to 2.0% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 2.5% worldwide.
Continues…Youth unemployment in North Africa is the highest in the world Source: AfDB computations
Continues…And labour force participation rates in North Africa are among the lowest in the world. Source: AfDB computations
Continues…Although the young constitute around two fifths of the continent’s working age population, they make up three fifths of the total unemployed. Source: AfDB computations
Continues…Young people in Africa have very low educational attainment compared to other regions in the world. Source: Authors’ calculations based on World Development Indicators 2011.
Key Contributing Factors for the Global Youth Unemployment Crisis • Low aggregate demand for labour due to the poor state of the economies. • Low productivity and slow structural transformation. • Non-conducive environment for SMEs to flourish. • Mismatch of skills between supply and labour markets needs. • Lack of relevant skills and experience to compete on the labour markets.
Continues… • HIV & AIDS as breadwinners die early, thus depriving the youth of opportunity for further education and training. • Lack of access to land, credit and other productive assets. • Inadequacy and poor status of existing infrastructure. • Low employment-to-population ratios. • Discrimination, nepotism and fovouritism
Effects and Consequences for Inaction • Persistent youth employment crisis carries very high social and economic costs and threatens the fabric of societies by: -Fuelling social unrests, political instability and insecurity; - Lowering growth and development potentials; - Diminishing innovation and creativity in the economy; - Threatening sustainability of inter-generational solidarity and pensions schemes; - Undermining young people’s faith in the current policy paradigms and the possibility of a better future. • A whole generation of youth now faces much bleaker life prospects than any previous one. • Youth unemployment and poor jobs contribute to high levels of poverty.
Correlation between Youth Employment Crisis & Social Unrests
Continues… • Youth unemployment results in waste of scarce and valuable human capital – capacity underutilization. • There is an intricate link between youth joblessness and social problems like drug abuse, petty crime and single parent families. • Unemployed youth are much more likely to engage in risky behaviour which could increase their vulnerability to contract HIV and AIDS. • Youth unemployment can result in a long-lasting “scarring” effect on young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Continues… • Jobless youth are often marginalized and excluded from the larger society. • Social exclusion can lead to: - Alienation of youth from society and democratic political process; - Subscription of youth into radical and even terrorist ideologies and activities. • Unless immediate action is taken, the trade union movement worldwide confronts a bleak future: - Young people will continue to loose faith in the TUM - Too many working poor joining the TUM will not guarantee its sustainability.
Continues… • Unless immediate action is taken, the global community and the TUM confront the grim legacy of a lost generation. There are young people at risk; but youth is, undoubtedly, a reason for hope, for the cause of freedom & development in Latin America & Africa, especially if they can attain productive jobs & Decent Work
The End! Any Questions?
