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Youth employment crisis easing but far from over: ILO report

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The global youth unemployment rate has stabilized at 13 percent following a period of rapid increase between 2007 and 2010 but it is still well above the pre-crisis level of 11.7 percent, according to the ILO's Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015 report released on Thursday.

The report highlights a drop in the number of unemployed youth to 73.3 million in 2014. That is 3.3 million less than the crisis peak of 76.6 million in 2009.

Because of a shrinking youth labor force, the youth unemployment rate remains stubbornly high despite a decline in the number of unemployed youth. According to the report's projections, the rate is expected to creep up to 13.1 percent in 2015.

"It is encouraging to see an improvement in the youth employment trends," says Sara Elder, the report's lead author.

"But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that recovery is not universal and that almost 43 percent of the global youth labor force is still either unemployed or working yet living in poverty. It's still not easy to be young and starting out in today's labor market," she noted.

The report says that millions of young people in low-income countries continue to leave school to take up jobs when they are too young.

According to the report, 31 percent of youth in low-income countries have no educational qualifications at all, compared to 6 percent in lower middle-income countries and 2 percent in upper middle-income countries.

"We know that today's youth do not face an easy labor market transition and with the continued global economic slowdown, this is likely to continue, but we also know that greater investment in targeted action to boost youth employment pays off," said Azita Berar Awad, director of the ILO's Employment Policy Department.

She reiterated that the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its emphasis on youth employment provide a new opportunity to mobilize broad global partnerships to support action on a more significant scale. Enditem