Millions of young people continue to struggle to find work with global youth unemployment set to rise further above its pre-downturn level, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned.
The UN agency is calling on governments to invest more in education and training as new evidence emerges that young jobseekers are being disproportionately hurt by the legacy of the global financial crisis.
The ILO’s annual report into youth employment trends found that although the global jobless rate for young people fell between 2012 and 2014, at 13% it was still three times higher than the rate for the over-25s. It is also well above the 11.7% rate before the crisis and projected to edge up to 13.1% in 2015.
The authors said there were some “encouraging” improvements on the previous year and they also noted that the rising jobless rate was partly a factor of a shrinking youth workforce as enrolment in education rises. But, adding to fears for struggling emerging economies, they warned the upturn was patchy.
The report signalled a divide between developed economies where the jobless rate has fallen since 2012 and countries in Asia and North Africa where it rose or stagnated. Read more
