Youth Unemployment
Why is youth unemployment so high?
May 8th 2013, 23:50 by J.F. | NEW YORK
YOUTH unemployment is blighting a whole generation of youngsters. The International Labour Organisation estimates there are 75m 15-to-24-year-olds looking for work across the globe. But 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, a club of rich nations, it is estimated there are 26m youths not in education, employment or training (so-called NEETs). Similarly, across the developing countries, the World Bank estimates that there are 262m such youths. All told, there are perhaps as many as 290m 15-to-24-year-olds not participating in the labour market— almost a quarter of the world’s youth, and a group almost as large as the population of America. More young people are idle than ever before. Why?
Some of these youths choose not to work. About a quarter of the 290m are south Asian women who do not work for cultural reasons. And under-24s who are working are disproportionately engaged in informal or temporary employment. In the rich world, it is estimated that a third of under-24s are on temporary contracts; in developing countries a fifth are unpaid labourers or work in the informal sector. That is better than not working at all, but is hardly cause for celebration. In total, nearly half of the world’s young are contributing to the labour market less effectively than they could be.
This is not simply the result of the financial crisis, though that is part of the explanation, having affected young people in the rich world particularly badly. Youth unemployment has increased by 30% across the OECD, and in Spain it has doubled to 20% as proportion of the youth population. In the developing world, meanwhile, a second contributory factor is that many countries with fast-growing populations also have inefficient labour markets. Almost half the world’s young people live in South Asia, the Middle East and
May 8th 2013, 23:50 by J.F. | NEW YORK
YOUTH unemployment is blighting a whole generation of youngsters. The International Labour Organisation estimates there are 75m 15-to-24-year-olds looking for work across the globe. But 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, a club of rich nations, it is estimated there are 26m youths not in education, employment or training (so-called NEETs). Similarly, across the developing countries, the World Bank estimates that there are 262m such youths. All told, there are perhaps as many as 290m 15-to-24-year-olds not participating in the labour market— almost a quarter of the world’s youth, and a group almost as large as the population of America. More young people are idle than ever before. Why?
Some of these youths choose not to work. About a quarter of the 290m are south Asian women who do not work for cultural reasons. And under-24s who are working are disproportionately engaged in informal or temporary employment. In the rich world, it is estimated that a third of under-24s are on temporary contracts; in developing countries a fifth are unpaid labourers or work in the informal sector. That is better than not working at all, but is hardly cause for celebration. In total, nearly half of the world’s young are contributing to the labour market less effectively than they could be.
This is not simply the result of the financial crisis, though that is part of the explanation, having affected young people in the rich world particularly badly. Youth unemployment has increased by 30% across the OECD, and in Spain it has doubled to 20% as proportion of the youth population. In the developing world, meanwhile, a second contributory factor is that many countries with fast-growing populations also have inefficient labour markets. Almost half the world’s young people live in South Asia, the Middle East and