TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

03/09/2010

The global crisis has dramatically increased youth unemployment. This will be addressed at an OECD Conference on Youth Unemployment in Oslo on 20-21 September 2010, where a TUAC delegation will be attending headed by TUAC Vice-President Marie-Louise Knuppert of the LO-Denmark. Global youth unemployment has reached its highest level on record. As the recent ILO report on Global Employment Trends for Youth 2010 has revealed, between 2007 and 2009 youth unemployment increased by almost 8 million. During the crisis the global youth unemployment rate has seen its largest annual increase ever recorded. Youth in most of the countries of the European Union and the Developed Economies were hit particularly hard. In a number of countries there was at the same time an increase in inactivity among youth. This implies that gloomy employment prospects have led a growing number of young people to give up the search for a job.

The ILO report provides updated world and regional youth labour market indicators as well as a detailed analysis of the longer–term trends in youth population, labour force, employment and unemployment. The report also reveals that young people suffer disproportionately from decent work deficits. Many young people who do find work are often underemployed as involuntary part-time employees, temporary workers with short-term contracts or in work of inadequate productivity and lacking any career prospects. Moreover, many of them are also facing long working hours, low pay and limited or no job security. And if they are loosing their job, often there is no or insufficient income support.

The information provided by the report reveal that youth face greater barriers than adults in getting access to decent work. According to the report, aggregate economic activity appears to be the major determinant of youth employment. Contrary to what economist tend to assume, there is no compelling evidence suggesting that factors such as the size of the youth cohort, the level of youth wages or the existence of minimum wages can explain the rise in youth unemployment. This applies in particular for most OECD countries; despite a relative decline in the size of the youth cohort, a drop in youth wages, and low minimum wages, youth unemployment rates have risen.

The risk, that the jobs crisis could permanently diminish the life chances of a whole generation of young adults is a central concern. In order to avoid the jobs crisis resulting in increased social exclusion and producing a “lost generation”, governments must implement policies that facilitate a successful transition from education to work and that provide decent work opportunities for young people. In designing and implementing such policies, the ILO report is quite timely and helpful in identifying promising policy approaches complementing the operation of labour market institutions and not weakening them.

To read the report.