FIGHTING YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT THROUGH INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY ECOSOC

Transcription

1 FIGHTING YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT THROUGH INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY ECOSOC INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC In most OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, the average youth unemployment rate is significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate, and rates increased in many industrialized countries following the global recession. Current cohorts of young adults entered adulthood during an international labor and housing market crisis of a severity not experienced since the Great Depression, raising concerns that they represent a scarred generation that will suffer a permanent decline in their financial well-being. Governments need to address youth s crucial transition from school to work. Entrepreneurship, innovation and technology are major instruments at our disposal that should be used to tackle the issue of youth unemployment. The major focus of their use relates to the creation of more jobs, and even of new ones that did not previously exist in this quick and rising technological age. Technological advances that lead to job automation their impact in the job market must also be considered to find how countries can positively benefit from such changes whilst maintaining the youth employed in the future. The International Labour Organisation estimates there are 75 million 15-to-24- year-olds looking for work across the globe. However, this figure excludes a large number of youngsters who do not participate in the labour market at all. Among the 34 members of the OECD it is estimated there are 26m youths not in education, employment or training (NEETs). Similarly, across developing countries, the World Bank estimates that there are 262m such youths. All told, there are around 290 million 15-to-24-year-olds not participating in the labour market almost a quarter of the world s youth. Achievement of the SDGs will rely on improving the labour market and social outcomes of youth. Accordingly, it is critical that the youth outlook improves in order to facilitate inclusive and sustainable growth.

2 In particular, the trends outlined in this outlook will impact significantly on the goals that relate to poverty (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG 5) (see section 2), decent work and inclusive growth (SDG 8) and reducing inequality (SDG 10). To begin with, a high incidence of youth working poverty has direct negative implications for poverty alleviation (SDG 1), which, in turn, suppresses growth potential, particularly for emerging and developing countries. In developed countries, high levels of unemployment and discouragement have long-term consequences for the earnings potential of youth, educational attainment, skills acquisition and future opportunities, all of which ultimately inhibits the development of human capital and innovation in an economy, thus jeopardizing the achievement of SDG 8. These effects, in conjunction with slower growth, are likely to contribute to widening global inequality as wage growth is suppressed and disparities, particularly in tertiary education, continue to grow. Indeed, facilitating access to tertiary education (contained in SDG 4) for increasing numbers of youth will be a critical factor as the labour market undergoes structural change with the decline in middle-skilled jobs and growing demand for higher skills. KEY TERMS Unemployed: According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) a person is defined as unemployed when they are out of work, want a job, have been actively looking for one in the past four weeks and are able to start working within the next two weeks. Note that one must fulfill all four requirements to be considered unemployed - e.g., a stay-at-home mom is not, by definition, unemployed, as the individual has decided to not seek a job. Youth: According to the United Nations, the youth is comprised of the people from 15 to 24 years old. Youth Unemployment: The unemployment of young people (15-24 years old). Labour Force / Workforce: Both the people who are in employment and in unemployment but not those who are economically inactive, such as children and pensioners.

3 Economically Inactive: A person who is not part of the labour force, meaning they are neither employed nor unemployed, in spite of their working age. This can include pre-school children, school children, students, pensioners and housewives or -men. Youth Unemployment Rate: The percentage of the unemployed youth compared to the total labour force of that particular age group. However, because the youth includes all those who are economically inactive, being fulltime students, youth employment rates tend to be higher than other employment rates. Entrepreneurship: The desire and the process of starting a business, by managing its risks and working efficiently in order to generate the best possible profit. Apprenticeship: The period of time in which a trainee learns a craft from an experienced individual. Traineeship: A period when someone is trained in the skills needed for a particular job. Traineeships help businesses develop the talented workforce required to succeed. NEETs: Abbreviation, referring to the youth that is Not in Education, Employment or Training. ALMPs: Abbreviation, referring to Active Labour Market Policies. They are governmentally issued programmes that have the purpose of helping the unemployed find work by intervening in the labour market. SDGs: Abbreviation, referring to Sustainable Development Goals. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership.

4 MAIN PROBLEMS The increasing rate of youth unemployment in the past years has proven to pose a threat to the youth s mental health. This is due to the fear that young people have of either losing their job or not being able to find a permanent position. Specifically, there is an increasing rate of mental disorders, substance abuse and even in extreme cases, of suicide. The effects of youth unemployment can persist for years. Those who begin their careers without work are more likely to have lower wages and suffer joblessness again later in life. The economic loss can be substantial, too, and not just in the form of higher welfare payments (payments a government makes to the unemployed as part of social security). Part of these losses may be due to missing out on training and experience accumulation that typically occurs with young workers. Employers seem to prefer applicants who have previous experience in their respective fields and tend to reject anyone who has been unemployed for a long period of time. A high number of employers consider unemployment to be a sign of unproductivity. Additionally, employers expect from young people CVs that the average teenager/young adult could not have acquired previously - this makes it harder for the youth to find a first job, as they do not possess any kind of past experience in the working field. The continuous inflation of youth unemployment rates also has a serious effects on national governmental, economic and budgetary matters, by threatening employment policy goals, as people are not distributed in positions that correlate with their skills. Workers forced into bad matches or no matches end up on a productivity trajectory well below what they might otherwise have expected. In recent years, active labour market policies (ALMPs) have been established in the European Union, targeting mainly young people and other groups, such as elder and long term unemployed people. However, these policies often target and support temporary work placement, instead of permanent one. This can be detrimental to society, as job-seekers in desire of any type of placement in the labour force disregard the future prospects that the job may or may not possess - it serves only as a shortterm solution. Although these initiatives aid vulnerable groups and combat unemployment, they do not provide the unemployed with a secure long-term, effective and permanent solution.

5 Traineeships, which are increasingly common for young people during or after their studies, as they can help them to gain relevant experience and find a foothold in the labour market, have become reason for concern as businessmen have been increasingly taking advantage of young trainees. A range of stakeholders have voiced concerns about the quality of traineeships. In particular, some traineeships tend to misuse young people as a cheap or free labour force, without helping the trainee at all - reports mentioned insufficient learning content and substandard working conditions. Girls and young women make up the majority of the world s 621 million young people who are not in education, employment or training. Unemployment is affecting young women more than young men in almost all regions of the world. In Northern Africa and the Arab States, the female youth unemployment rate is almost double that of young men, reaching as high as 44.3 and 44.1%, respectively. There were 52.6 million domestic workers in the world in 2010, of which 80% are women. Women are more likely to engage in invisible domestic work outside the home, which is poorly considered and regulated. Gender norms are one of the main obstacles faced by girls and young women when they want to access education or the world of work. FACTS AND STATISTICS Retrieved from S4YE (2015) Toward Solutions for Youth Employment. A 2015 Baseline Report and International Labour Conference (2012) The Youth Employment Crisis: Time For Action ; 621 million young people aged years old are not in education, employment or training. 75 million young people are trained but have no job. In the next decade, one billion young people will enter the labour market, and large numbers of young people face a future of irregular and informal employment. Almost 90% of all young people live in developing countries. Youth are approximately three times more likely to be unemployed than adults (2.7).

6 The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that the global youth unemployment rate is expected to reach 13.1% in 2016 (71 million young people) and remain at that level through to 2017 (up from 12.9% in 2015). It is estimated that 23% of young people currently employed in the world earn less than $1.25US a day. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Please keep in mind these solutions are not exhaustive and delegates should think of their own approach to the problem. Introducing labour market scans, which aim to identify companies recruitment needs, the situation of the youth, and the mismatch between the skills they have and the skills they need to find a job. Young people should follow trainings in essential soft and hard skills, such as career counselling, life skills, and work and technical skills. They should either be trained to be ready to work in a specific sector, or to become entrepreneurs. Solutions should aim at helping bridge the gap between training and employment by supporting young people finding a job placement or starting their own enterprise. Solutions should also target to monitor the progress of the youth to ensure measures have long lasting positive effects. Enrolling youth in local alumni networks for example would help connect youth with valuable job-related resources, assess the results of the programmes and adapt them if necessary. Strategic partnerships with other civil society organisations can be created, as decision-makers and, most importantly, the private sector are key to the success of the measures implemented. For example, partnering with the private sector at the local level is essential to identify the labour market demand. It also helps raise awareness and improve the attitudes of the private sector on setting up decent working conditions, promoting youth employability and gender equality.

7 USEFUL RESOURCES publ/documents/publication/wcms_ pdf