WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

YOUNG WOMEN & EMPLOYMENT

Gender Disaggregation of Data?

Gender Lens for Suggested Solutions?

Policies & Programs for Many Young Women Who

   Must Balance Family & Work Responsibilities?

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Direct Link to Full 17-Page ILO 2011 Report:

http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_elm/---trends/documents/publication/wcms_165455.pdf

ILO - GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS FOR YOUTH - REPORT ON THE IMPACT OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS ON YOUTH

The report presented an analysis of the latest available world and regional aggregates of key labour market indicators for young people aged 15 to 24 years, with a specific focus on how young people fared in the face of the recent global economic crisis.

The crisis led to a substantial increase in youth unemployment rates, reversing earlier favorable trends over the past decade. At the peak of the crisis period in 2009, the global youth unemployment rate saw its largest annual increase on record.

Youth jobs crisis confirmed in both developed and developing economies.

The majority of the world’s youth are in developing economies, where someyoung men and women have very little chance of ever finding work while others cannot escape the trap of working poverty.

Consequences? Continuing uncertainty for young men and women and growing discontent…

Recommended policy measures for promoting youth employment

Many governments are actively engaged in finding solutions, although the severity of the situation of  young people in the labour market requires more attention and policy action. The following actions could be considered as a basis for tailoring youth employment interventions to the national situation:

Develop an integrated strategy for growth and job creation to ensure long-term, sustained and concerted action for the promotion of decent work for young people. Assigning priority to youth employment requires a coherent policy framework, with measurable targets and achievable outcomes, that addresses youth employment in national development strategies and employment policies.

Establish broad-based partnerships to turn youth employment commitment into reality. partnerships among governments, employer organizations, trade unions and other organizations can be instrumental in determining the most appropriate action to be taken at national and local levels for the promotion of decent work for young people. Action plans on youth employment can be used as a tool for the conversion of youth employment priorities into concrete action and to strengthen the coordination of youth employment interventions.

Improve the quality of jobs and the competitiveness of enterprises with a view to increasing the number of jobs in productive sectors and ensuring job quality for the many young people who are currently engaged in precarious jobs, especially in the informal economy. Together with labour legislation, these measures can reduce labour market segmentation based on the type of contract and job and can help young people move to decent jobs.

Invest in the quality of education and training and improve its relevance to labour market needs. Education and training programmes that equip young people with the skills required by the labour market are an important element in facilitating the transition of young people to decent work. These programmes should be based on broad skills that are related to occupational needs and are recognized by enterprises, and should include work experience components. Policy coherence and more effective coordination across education and training systems and labour market institutions should be pursued at all levels, including between Ministries of Education and of Labour, as well as public employment services, private employment agencies and education and training providers.

Enhance the design and increase funding of active labour market policies to support the implementation of national youth employment priorities. Active labour market policies and programmes (ALMPs) programmes should offer a comprehensive package of services with a view to facilitating the transition of youth to decent work. Standard types of ALMPs based on single measures are unlikely to work for discouraged youth or for young workers engaged in the informal economy, especially during crisis and post-crisis periods. The effectiveness of these measures could be greatly improved by introducing mechanisms that target disadvantaged youth and by piloting programmes and assessing their results prior to their implementation on a larger scale. Funding for these measures should be increased to ensure greater support during the post-crisis period. Lack of support for these employment measures would have dramatic consequences for the current generation of young people.

Review the provision of employment services with the objective of offering a set of standard services to all young people and more intensive assistance to disadvantaged youth. Public employment servicesshould re-orient their services to offer “standard” support to all young jobseekers (for example, self-service, group counseling and job search techniques, including employment planning) and more intensive and targeted assistance for “hard-to-place” youth. Early interventions based on profiling techniques and outreach programmes should be developed at the local level to make the services more relevant to young people and to assist enterprises in the recruitment process. Partnerships between employment services and private employment agencies are important to support young people in their job search.

Partnerships between labour offices and municipal authorities, the social partners, social services and civil society organizations are required to improve the targeting of young discouraged people and young workers engaged in the informal economy who do not usually fall within the reach of the public employment service.

Pursue financial and macroeconomic policies that aim to remove obstacles to economic recovery: Job growth will not come from labour market policies alone. Additional financial and macroeconomic measures, including bank and debt restructuring, are needed to remove the obstacles to growth.