WUNRN
OECD – Organisation for Economic
Co-Operation & Development - The mission of OECD Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of
people around the world. http://www.oecd.org/about/
OECD Current Country Membership - http://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/
OECD Skills Outlook 2015 Report – Serious Need to Improve
Employability of Youth – Young Women
Young people around the world are struggling to enter the labour market. In some OECD countries, one in four 16-29 year-olds is neither employed nor in education or training. The OECD Skills Outlook 2015 shows how improving the employability of youth requires a comprehensive approach. While education , social, and labour market policies have key roles to play, co-ordination between public policies and the private sector is also crucial. The publication, which builds on the results of the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) presented in the first edition of the Skills Outlook, also presents examples of successful policies in selected countries.
Direct Link to Full 155-Page 2015 OECD Report:
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http://www.oecd.org/education/governments-must-step-up-efforts-to-tackle-youth-unemployment.htm
Governments Must Step up Efforts to
Tackle Youth Unemployment
27/05/2015
- More than 35 million young people, aged 16-29, across OECD countries are
neither employed nor in education or training (NEET). Overall, young people are
twice as likely as prime-age workers to be unemployed. Governments need to do
more to give young people a good start to their working lives and help them
find work, according to a new OECD report.
The OECD Skills Outlook 2015 says
that around half of all NEETs in the OECD are out of school and not looking for
work and are likely to have dropped off the radar of their country’s education,
social, and labour market systems.
“Addressing
this issue is not only a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity,”
said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, launching the report in Berlin.
“Too many young people leave education without having acquired the right skills
and, even those who do, are prevented from putting them to productive use.
These young people often face a difficult future and need all our support. “
The
report expands on the findings of the first OECD Survey of Adult Skills
(PIAAC), published in 2013, and creates a detailed picture of how young people
acquire and use their skills, as well as the potential barriers they face to
doing both.
It
shows that 10% of new graduates have poor literacy skills and 14% have poor
numeracy skills. More than 40% of those who left school before completing their
upper secondary education have poor numeracy and literacy skills.
Work
and education are also too often separate worlds: less than 50% of students in
vocational education and training programmes, and less than 40% of students in
academic programmes in the 22 OECD countries and regions covered were
participating in some kind of work-based learning at the time of the survey.
Even young people with strong skills have trouble finding work. Many firms find
it too expensive to hire individuals with no labour market experience.
Young
people in work can also face institutionalised obstacles to developing their
skills. For example, one in four employed young people is on a temporary
contract and so tend to use their skills less and have fewer training
opportunities than workers on permanent contracts.
To
help more young people into work, the OECD recommends:
·
High-quality pre-primary education for all children in order to
help mitigate disparities in education outcomes and to give every child a
strong start to their education.
·
Teachers and school leaders should identify low achievers early
on to give them the support they need to attain sufficient proficiency in reading,
mathematics and science, and prevent them from dropping out of school entirely.
·
Public employment services, social welfare institutions and
education and training systems should offer some form of second-chance
education or training. In return for receiving social benefits, young people
could be required to register with social welfare or public employment
services, and participate in further education and training.
·
Education providers and the business sector should work together
to design qualifications frameworks that accurately reflect the actual skills
of new graduates.
·
Work-based learning should be integrated into both vocational
and academic post-secondary programmes.
Pew Research Center - http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/02/09/chapter-3-how-todays-economy-is-affecting-young-adults/
USA Young Adult Realities of Economic
Hard Times
Many
young adults have felt the impact of the recession and sluggish recovery in
tangible ways. Fully half (49%) of those ages 18 to 34 say that because of
economic conditions over the past few years, they have taken a job they didn’t
really want just to pay the bills. More than a third (35%) say they have gone
back to school because of the bad economy. And one-in-four (24%) say they have
taken an unpaid job to gain work experience.
For
some, tough economic times have had an impact on their personal life as well.
Roughly a quarter of adults ages 18 to 34 (24%) say that, due to economic
conditions, they have moved back in with their parents in recent years after
living on their own. Among those ages 25 to 29, the share moving back home
rises to 34%. Most adults under age 25 are enrolled in school at least part
time (46% are full-time students). By age 25, the majority are out of school,
but jobs and housing can be hard to come by, and many “boomerang” back home.
More
than one-in-five young adults ages 18 to 34 (22%) say they have postponed
having a baby because of the bad economy. Roughly the same proportion (20%) say
they have postponed getting married.
There
are some significant differences in the impact of the recession among young
adults by race, particularly in the areas of education and employment. The
economic data show that young blacks have an even higher unemployment rate than
do young whites or young Hispanics. And even for young blacks who are working,
their employment situation may not be highly satisfying. More than six-in-ten
(62%) blacks ages 18 to 34 say in recent years they have taken a job they
didn’t really want just to pay the bills. This compares with 47% of whites in
the same age group and 54% of Hispanics.
Young
blacks are also more likely to report that they have gone back to school
because of hard economic times. Half of the young blacks surveyed say they have
returned to school in recent years, compared with 32% of young whites and 36%
of Hispanics.
Young
whites and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as young blacks to say they
have moved back in with their parents after living on their own because of
economic conditions. Among those ages 18 to 34, 26% of whites and 29% of
Hispanics say they have moved back home, compared with 13% of blacks.
Young
Hispanics are more likely than young whites to say they have postponed getting
married because of the economy.
While
race and ethnicity seem to have divided young adults in terms of the impact of
the recession, there are very few differences along gender lines. Men suffered
much greater job losses than women during the recession. However, the current
survey finds that the impact of recent economic conditions has been fairly
equal on young men and young women. Among those ages 18 to 34, men and women
are equally likely to report that, in recent years due to economic conditions,
they have taken a job they really didn’t want just to pay the bills. Similar
shares say they have gone back to school (35% of young men and 36% of women).
And they are equally likely to say they have moved back in with their parents
and postponed marriage and childbirth.
There
is one significant difference between young men and young women. While 30% of
men ages 18 to 34 say they have taken an unpaid job to gain experience in
recent years, only 18% of young women say they have done the same.
When
it comes to marriage and family, young adults without a college education are
among the most likely to say economic conditions have affected their plans.
Among those ages 18 to 34 who are not college graduates and are not currently
enrolled in school, nearly three-in-ten (28%) say they have put off getting
married and an equal proportion say they have put off having a baby because of
the economy. Among young adults who graduated from college or are currently
enrolled in school, only about half as many say the same.
The Challenges Facing Today’s US Young
Adults
There
seems to be a near consensus among the public that today’s young adults face
greater challenges than their parents did in reaching some of the most basic
economic benchmarks. Strong majorities of the public say it’s harder for young
adults today to find a job, save for the future, pay for college or buy a home
than it was for their parents’ generation.
Among
adults of all ages, 82% say it’s harder for today’s young adults to find a job
than it was for their parents’ generation. Only 5% say it’s easier now to find
a job, and 12% say finding a job is about the same as it was a generation ago.
Three-out-of-four
adults say it’s harder for young people to save for the future today than it
was for their parents. And seven-in-ten (69%) say it’s harder for today’s young
adults to buy a home.