Youth Unemployment

Facts:

• According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) a large number of youth are engaged in poor quality and low paid jobs, often in the informal economy. In 2008, an estimated 152 million young workers –or nearly 25% of the world’s working poor– were living with their families on less than US$1.25 per person per day  amounting to more than 28% of all young workers in the world (UN)
  
  
• The ILO has warned of a “scarred” generation of young workers facing a dangerous mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, as well as persistently high working poverty in the developing world. (ILO)
  
  
• In the first quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate for young people (aged 15 to 24) was 17.4% in the OECD area compared with 7% for adults (aged 25 and over). (OECD)
  
  
• Young women have more difficulty than young men in finding work. The female youth unemployment rate in 2009 stood at 13.2 per cent compared to the male rate of 12.9%. (UN)
  
  
• There are more than 1 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 worldwide, and 85% of them live in developing countries. (UN)
  
  
• Youth unemployment stood at 13% globally at the end of 2009, equivalent to 81 million young people. That is an increase of 7.8 million since 2007, prior to the global crisis. (ILO)
  
  
• At the peak of the crisis period in 2009, the global youth unemployment rate saw its largest annual increase on record. The youth unemployment rate rose from 11.8 to 12.7% between 2008 and 2009, marking the largest annual increase over the past 20 years. (ILO)
  
  
• One of the key reasons why unemployment tends to be higher among young people than among adults relates to the existence of “job queues”. As new entrants to the labor market, young people may find themselves at the back of the line for jobs. (UN)