The weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 has further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer and longer for some unfortunate young jobseekers. The prolonged jobs crisis also forces the current generation of youth to be less selective about the type of job they are prepared to accept, a tendency that was already evident before the crisis.  The global youth unemployment rate, estimated at 12.6 per cent in 2013, is close to its crisis peak. As many as 73 million young people are estimated to be unemployed in 2013.  At the same time, informal employment among young people remains pervasive and transitions to decent work are slow and difficult. The economic and social costs of unemployment, long-term unemployment, discouragement and widespread low-quality jobs for young people continue to rise and undermine economies’ growth potential.

This issue of Global Employment Trends for Youth provides an update on youth labour markets around the world, focusing both on the continuing labour market crisis and on structural issues in youth labour markets.

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The World Development Report 2013: Jobs stresses the role of strong private sector led growth in creating jobs and outlines how jobs that do the most for development can spur a virtuous cycle. The report finds that poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and as jobs empower women to invest more in their children. Efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do, as more productive jobs appear, and as less productive ones disappear. Societies flourish as jobs foster diversity and provide alternatives to conflict.

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This report examines the latest global and regional labour market trends for youth as well as country-level data on indicators such as youth unemployment, long-term unemployment, part-time employment and working poverty. With as much as one in three unemployed persons today between the ages of 15 and 24 years, political pressure to prevent the disheartening of a “lost generation” increases and governments are called on to shift priorities toward greater investment in youth. It concludes with some recommendations for policy responses that can help to prevent the current crisis in the youth labour markets from becoming structural.

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The focus of this discussion paper is to dig in the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) 2005/2006 in search of evidence to delineate the main characteristics of Kenya’s youth employment challenge and inform the relevant employment policies. The study adopts a working definition of youth as those aged from 15 to 34 years. Also, an attempt is made to be as detailed as possible in examining different youth age subgroups.

The paper builds on at least two important United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reports: the Employment-Based Economic Strategy for Kenya 2007 and the Youth Report 2010. Analysed evidence refers to data gathered by the KIHBS 2005/2006, complemented with UN Population Statistics of 2011.

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This paper presents examples of policies and programmes initiated by local governments that promote green jobs especially for women and youth (persons between the ages of 15 and 24), with the aim of inspiring more local governments to consider policies that address the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in a synergetic manner.

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Over the past decade and a half, the Mano River Union countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – have been exposed to multifaceted challenges, including civil war, which have produced widespread economic and social disarray and insecurity. The common denominators of vulnerability in each country are a lack of infrastructure, a lack of diversification in the economy and a too pronounced dependency on raw materials and primary agricultural products. The four countries have one of the world’s youngest and poorest populations. Nearly three out of four people in the sub region, or 71.3 per cent, are under the age of 30 and youth unemployment rates run around 70 per cent, and are as high as 88 per cent in Liberia. Female youth, often overlooked in youth employment programmes, deserve special attention as they account for half of the youth population. When young people do find a job, it is often in the informal economy, in low paid, low-skilled and unprotected jobs.

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This review of National Action Plans (NAPs) reveals valuable information about both the process of formulating an NAP and the substantive issues addressed therein. Innovative national initiatives to address youth employment concerns are evident in this report and the sharing of these experiences will benefit countries in tackling their own challenges.

In response to a call from the United Nations General Assembly, 41 countries submitted National Action Plans or progress reports on youth employment, demonstrating a genuine commitment to youth and the resolve to tackle the complex challenges that young people face. Guidelines on drafting a National Action Plan for youth employment were prepared by the United Nations Secretariat and the Youth Employment Network (YEN). Furthermore, YEN support is made available to facilitate the development of plans. Despite the availability of guidelines and assistance, only a few countries have taken advantage of these services.

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