ILO Report: Record Youth Unemployment Rate
16 August 2010
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The global youth unemployment rate rose from 11.9% in 2007 to 13% in 2009 due to the economic crisis.
The global youth unemployment rate reached its highest ever level, rising from 11.9% in 2007 to 13% in 2009 due to the economic crisis, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said Wednesday, warning that this trend is likely to continue to increase in 2010. In a new report published on the occasion of the opening of the International Year of Youth (August 12), the organization stated that of the 620 million economically active young people aged 15 to 24, 81 million were unemployed at the end of 2009, "the highest number ever reached, or 7.8 million more than in 2007".
The report, entitled "Global Trends in Youth Employment - 2010", adds that these trends will have "serious consequences for young people, as new entrants to the labor market swell the ranks of those already unemployed". It warns against "the risk of a lost generation, made up of young people who are totally detached from the labor market and have lost all hope of being able to work to earn a decent living". According to ILO forecasts, the rise in youth unemployment is expected to continue in 2010 to reach 13.1% and then decline moderately (12.7% in 2011).
The report specifies that in developed countries and some emerging economies, the impact of the crisis on young people is mainly felt in terms of unemployment and social unrest that goes hand in hand with discouragement and prolonged inactivity. It also notes that in developing economies where nearly 90% of young people live, this segment of the population is more vulnerable in terms of underemployment and poverty, adding that in low-income countries, the impact of the crisis is more reflected in a reduction in working time and wages for the small proportion of people benefiting from salaried employment and an increase in vulnerable employment in an overcrowded informal economy.
The document estimates that 152 million young people, or 28% of all young workers in the world, despite having a job, were still living in extreme poverty, in households earning less than $1.25 per person per day in 2008. The ILO report warns that unemployment, underemployment and discouragement can have long-term negative consequences for young people, compromising their future employment prospects in particular. The study also highlights the cost of youth idleness, emphasizing that "societies are losing their investment in education". States are losing revenue in terms of contributions to social security schemes, while being forced to increase social welfare spending, the report notes.
The report indicates that it is more difficult for young women to find a job, specifying that in 2009, the youth unemployment rate for women was 13.2% compared to a male rate of 12.9% (a difference of 0.3 percentage points, the same gap as that observed in 2007).
ILO forecasts show that the expected recovery should be slower for young people than for adults, estimating that youth unemployment figures and rates should only begin to decline in 2011.
The ILO forecasts a continuous increase in overall youth unemployment to a record level of 81.2 million unemployed young people with a rate of 13.1% in 2010. The following year, the number of unemployed young people should fall to 78.5 million, or a rate of 12.7%. In comparison, the rate of inactive adults should have peaked in 2009 at 4.9% and then decline by 0.1 percentage point per year in 2010 and 2011 (to reach 4.8 and 4.7% respectively).
Addressing regional trends, the ILO indicates that the youth unemployment rate increased by 4.6 percentage points in developed economies and the European Union between 2008 and 2009 and by 3.5 points in Central and Eastern Europe (excluding the EU) and the CIS.
These are, it notes, the highest annual increases ever recorded for youth unemployment in any region. The youth unemployment rate of 17.7% in 2009 in developed economies and the European Union is the highest ever recorded in the region since regional statistics have been available (since 1991). In most regions, young women continue to be the hardest hit by unemployment.
It is only in developed economies and the European Union that young men are more severely affected, the increase in the unemployment rate among young men between 2007 and 2009 was 6.8 percentage points, compared to 3.9 for young women, the document notes.
It notes that in developing countries, the crisis is swelling the ranks of vulnerable employment and the informal sector, adding that the facts support this observation of an increase in Latin America where, between 2008 and 2009, the number of self-employed people increased by 1.7% and the number of unpaid family workers by 3.8%.
Published August 15, 2010
Posted online August 16, 2010
Lematin.ma
The global youth unemployment rate reached its highest ever level, rising from 11.9% in 2007 to 13% in 2009 due to the economic crisis, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said Wednesday, warning that this trend is likely to continue to increase in 2010. In a new report published on the occasion of the opening of the International Year of Youth (August 12), the organization stated that of the 620 million economically active young people aged 15 to 24, 81 million were unemployed at the end of 2009, "the highest number ever reached, or 7.8 million more than in 2007".
The report, entitled "Global Trends in Youth Employment - 2010", adds that these trends will have "serious consequences for young people, as new entrants to the labor market swell the ranks of those already unemployed". It warns against "the risk of a lost generation, made up of young people who are totally detached from the labor market and have lost all hope of being able to work to earn a decent living". According to ILO forecasts, the rise in youth unemployment is expected to continue in 2010 to reach 13.1% and then decline moderately (12.7% in 2011).
The report specifies that in developed countries and some emerging economies, the impact of the crisis on young people is mainly felt in terms of unemployment and social unrest that goes hand in hand with discouragement and prolonged inactivity. It also notes that in developing economies where nearly 90% of young people live, this segment of the population is more vulnerable in terms of underemployment and poverty, adding that in low-income countries, the impact of the crisis is more reflected in a reduction in working time and wages for the small proportion of people benefiting from salaried employment and an increase in vulnerable employment in an overcrowded informal economy.
The document estimates that 152 million young people, or 28% of all young workers in the world, despite having a job, were still living in extreme poverty, in households earning less than $1.25 per person per day in 2008. The ILO report warns that unemployment, underemployment and discouragement can have long-term negative consequences for young people, compromising their future employment prospects in particular. The study also highlights the cost of youth idleness, emphasizing that "societies are losing their investment in education". States are losing revenue in terms of contributions to social security schemes, while being forced to increase social welfare spending, the report notes.
The report indicates that it is more difficult for young women to find a job, specifying that in 2009, the youth unemployment rate for women was 13.2% compared to a male rate of 12.9% (a difference of 0.3 percentage points, the same gap as that observed in 2007).
ILO forecasts show that the expected recovery should be slower for young people than for adults, estimating that youth unemployment figures and rates should only begin to decline in 2011.
The ILO forecasts a continuous increase in overall youth unemployment to a record level of 81.2 million unemployed young people with a rate of 13.1% in 2010. The following year, the number of unemployed young people should fall to 78.5 million, or a rate of 12.7%. In comparison, the rate of inactive adults should have peaked in 2009 at 4.9% and then decline by 0.1 percentage point per year in 2010 and 2011 (to reach 4.8 and 4.7% respectively).
Addressing regional trends, the ILO indicates that the youth unemployment rate increased by 4.6 percentage points in developed economies and the European Union between 2008 and 2009 and by 3.5 points in Central and Eastern Europe (excluding the EU) and the CIS.
These are, it notes, the highest annual increases ever recorded for youth unemployment in any region. The youth unemployment rate of 17.7% in 2009 in developed economies and the European Union is the highest ever recorded in the region since regional statistics have been available (since 1991). In most regions, young women continue to be the hardest hit by unemployment.
It is only in developed economies and the European Union that young men are more severely affected, the increase in the unemployment rate among young men between 2007 and 2009 was 6.8 percentage points, compared to 3.9 for young women, the document notes.
It notes that in developing countries, the crisis is swelling the ranks of vulnerable employment and the informal sector, adding that the facts support this observation of an increase in Latin America where, between 2008 and 2009, the number of self-employed people increased by 1.7% and the number of unpaid family workers by 3.8%.
Published August 15, 2010
Posted online August 16, 2010
Lematin.ma
