Roundup: global youth unemployment stabilized but still high: ILO

A latest report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) here revealed that though the global youth unemployment rate has stabilized at 13 percent after a period of rapid increase between 2007 and 2010, it is still above the pre-crisis level of 11,7 percent.

Quantitatively speaking, the Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015 report indicated that the number of unemployed youth in the world dropped to 73.3 million in 2014, down from 76.6 million in 2009 and 78.7 million in 2005.

The study found that 36.7 percent of the worldwide unemployed population is accounted for by 15-24 year olds last year compared to 41.5 percent in 2004.

Despite these positive trends and a decreasing youth labor force, predictions show that the youth unemployment rate may actually rise to 13.1 percent this year.

"It is encouraging to see an improvement in the youth employment trends compared to the GET for Youth 2013," the report's lead author Sara Elder explained, adding that "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."

Though there has been a rise of the number of people in education, figures show that 31 percent of youth in low-income countries have no educational qualifications, compared to 6 percent in lower middle-income countries and 2 percent in upper middle-income countries.

Also outlined in the report was the protracted unemployment experienced by youth in regions such as the European Union where more than one in three has been out of work for over a year.

According to the report, many developing countries suffer from structural underemployment, informal employment and working poverty (living on less than 2 U.S. dollars per day) which still affects 169 million young workers in the developing world.

To address these issues, the report stressed the importance of investing in both education and training as well as ensuring that social protection and basic services are accessible regardless of gender, income level or socio-economic background.

"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. It is time to scale up action in support of youth employment," said Director of the ILO's Employment Policy Department Azita Berar Awad. Endit