Employment

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Learn what governments commited to in 1995: The World Programme of Action for Youth on Employment (A/RES/50/81)
B. Employment

33. Unemployment and underemployment among youth is a problem everywhere. It is, indeed, part of the larger struggle to create employment opportunities for all citizens. The problem has worsened in recent years because of the global recession which has affected developing countries the most seriously. The disturbing fact is that economic growth is not always accompanied by growth in employment. The difficulty of finding suitable employment is compounded by a host of other problems confronting young people, including illiteracy and insufficient training, and is worsened by periods of world economic slow-down and by overall changing economic trends. In some countries, the influx of young people into the employment market has brought with it acute problems. According to estimates of the International Labour Organization, more than one hundred million new jobs would have to be created within the next twenty years in order to provide suitable employment for the growing number of young people in the economically active populations of developing countries. The situation of girls and young women, as well as of young people with disabilities, refugee youth, displaced persons, street children, indigenous youth, migrant youth and minorities warrants urgent attention, bearing in mind the prohibition of forced labour and child labour.

34. The crisis of youth unemployment deprives young people of the opportunity to secure independent housing or the accommodations necessary for the establishment of families and participation in the life of society. Advances in technology and communications, coupled with improved productivity, have imposed new challenges as well as new opportunities for employment. Young people are among the most severely affected by these developments. If effective solutions are not found, the cost to society will be much higher in the long run. Unemployment creates a wide range of social ills and young people are particularly susceptible to its damaging effects: the lack of skills, low self-esteem, marginalization, impoverishment and the wasting of an enormous human resource.

Proposals for action

1. Opportunities for self-employment

35. Governments and organizations should create or promote grant schemes to provide seed money to encourage and support enterprise and employment programmes for young people. Businesses and enterprises could be encouraged to provide counterpart financial and technical support for such schemes. Cooperative schemes involving young people in production and marketing of goods and services could be considered. The formation of youth development banks could be considered. The Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives is encouraged to develop models for cooperatives run by youth in developed and developing countries. Such models could include guidelines for management training and training in entrepreneurial techniques and marketing.

2. Employment opportunities for specific groups of young people

36. Within funds designated to promote youth employment, Governments should, as appropriate, designate resources for programmes supporting the efforts of young women, young people with disabilities, youth returning from military service, migrant youth, refugee youth, displaced persons, street children and indigenous youth. Youth organizations and young people themselves should be directly involved in the planning and implementation of these programmes.

3. Voluntary community services involving youth

37. Where they do not already exist, Governments should consider the establishment of voluntary service programmes for youth. Such programmes could provide alternatives to military service, or might constitute a required element in educational curricula, depending on national policies and priorities. Youth camps, community service projects, environmental protection and inter-generational cooperation programmes should be included among the opportunities offered. Youth organizations should be directly involved in designing, planning, implementing and evaluating such voluntary service programmes. In addition, international cooperation programmes organized between youth organizations in developed and developing countries should be included to promote intercultural understanding and development training.

4. Needs created by technological changes

38. Governments, in particular those of developed countries, should encourage the creation of employment opportunities for young people in fields that are rapidly evolving as a result of technological innovation. A subset of the employment data compiled by Governments should track the employment of youth into those fields marked by newly emerging technologies. Measures should be taken to provide ongoing training for youth in this area.

39. Special attention should be paid to developing and disseminating approaches that promote flexibility in training systems and collaboration between training institutions and employers, especially for young people in high-technology industries.

World Youth Report 2005: Employment

3. Employment

31. Labour force participation rates for young people decreased in the world as a whole by almost four percentage points between 1993 and 2003. This is mainly the result of an increase in the number of young people attending school and staying longer in the educational system, generally high unemployment rates, and because some young people drop out of the labour force as they lose hope of finding work. International Labour Organization (ILO) figures show that youth unemployment in the world increased from 11.7 per cent in 1993 to an historical high of 14.4 per cent (88 million) in 2003.13 In 2003, youth unemployment was highest in Western Asia and North Africa (25.6 per cent) and sub-Saharan Africa (21 per cent) and lowest in East Asia (7 per cent) and the industrialized economies (13.4 per cent). There is a general movement towards the convergence of gender differences in labour force participation rates, although unemployment rates are still higher for women than for men in all developing regions, except in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Thanks to concerted efforts by Governments, civil society organizations and the international community, child labour appears to be on the decline throughout the world.

32. While the number of youth in secondary and tertiary education has increased, labour markets in many countries are not able to accommodate this large group of skilled young graduates. This is partly due to a failure in many countries to closely link the educational system to the needs of the labour market, but is also a result of the large numbers of youth now reaching working age. In the absence of opportunities in the formal labour market, young people are also turning to so-called "forced entrepreneurship" and self-employment in the informal sector, working in often hazardous conditions for low pay and with few prospects for the future. A combination of these factors can cause young workers to become disillusioned and alienated. Young people are also a very significant group among the 175 million global migrants, adding to the brain drain.14

33. There has been increasing concern among policy makers that the frustration that accompanies long-term unemployment among groups of young urban men feeds political and ideological unrest and violence. It has also been argued that unemployed and idle youth who have emerged in society as part of a large "demographic bulge" may question government authority and endanger its stability. It has been argued that these disaffected individuals will engage in national and international terrorism. It should be remembered, however, that only a very small number of individuals are engaged in such activities and that they are not necessarily young, and that causality between youth unemployment and terrorism has not been established.

34. The last decade has witnessed an increased international commitment to addressing youth employment. In 1995, Governments endorsed special attention to youth unemployment at the World Summit for Social Development.15 Six years later, youth organizations adopted the Dakar Youth Empowerment Strategy at the fourth session of the World Youth Forum of the United Nations system.16 In 2000, the Millennium Declaration resolved to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work, a target which was subsequently integrated into the Millennium Development Goals. 17 Goal 8, aimed at establishing a global partnership for development, explicitly refers to creating employment opportunities for young people. A high-level policy youth employment network was established in order to initiate action on the ground, and the youth employment issue has subsequently gained momentum at the national level. Recommendations based on the four global policy priorities of employability, entrepreneurship, equal opportunity and employment creation were developed in 2001 by a panel of experts appointed by the Secretary-General. The youth employment network now supports 10 lead countries committed to national youth employment strategies and a number of other countries that are preparing to do so.

35. Moreover, several poverty reduction strategy papers have specifically elaborated on youth employment strategies through entrepreneurial training, microcredit schemes, vocational training and career guidance, youth leadership training, labour intensive programmes targeted at youth and information and communication technologies skills training. At the country level, several national human development reports have been devoted to youth, and others have dedicated sections on national youth employment initiatives and policies.

36. Although many Governments have encouraged the concepts of entrepreneurship and self-employment among youth, there are relatively few microfinancing initiatives specifically targeted at youth. Most of these initiatives are implemented by NGOs or private banks. Many NGOs have provided youth training programmes aimed at enhancing life skills, job training and entrepreneurial skills. Many initiatives that are undertaken appear too small in scale and lacking in resources to tackle the full scope of the youth unemployment problem. In order to have a real impact on poverty reduction, the challenge at the national and international levels is to “scale up” the successful aspects of these initiatives. Therefore, there is a need to increase financial commitments to youth employment initiatives.

Footnotes:

13. Unemployment rates refer to all persons looking for work, who are neither discouraged nor voluntarily staying in education and training; See ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth (Geneva, 2004).
14. See United Nations, Trends in Total Migrant Stock: The 2003 Revision (http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/migstock/2003TrendsMigstock.pdf).
15. See Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 6-12 March 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. 96.IV.8).
16. See A/C.3/56/2.
17. See General Assembly resolution 55/2.