Trade Union Training on Youth Employment for ICFTU-APRO Youth Committee Turin May, 2005

Youth Employment in Asia and the Pacific Region Sara Spant Associate Expert on Employment Promotion The Youth Employment Network (YEN)

Contents 1.Who are youth? 2.Why focus on youth? 3.Why measure youth employment? 4.How measure youth employment? 5.More information needed 6.Conclusions

1. Who are “Youth” ? United Nations defines youth: “Youth is people between the ages of 15-24” “Teenagers” are between and “Young Adults” are between years old.

1. Who are youth? There is not “one” youth - people from different backgrounds, gender, age, class and ethnicity.

2. Why focus on youth? - The youth employment challenge

2. Growing pressures of youth population More than 1 billion people today are between 15 and 24 years old. 85 % of young people live in developing countries About 60 % of the world’s young people live in Asia, or over 650 million persons.

2. The Youth Employment Challenge The ILO estimates that 88.2 million young people were unemployed in the world in This was 47.4 per cent of the global total of 186 million unemployed. Young people are generally 2 to 3 times more likely to be unemployed than adults. There will be 460 million new young job- seekers during the next ten years, two-thirds of them in Asia.

2. The Youth Employment Challenge Youth unemployment can: Impose heavy costs on individuals and their sense of dignity. Permanently damage young people’s employability. Lead to a circle of despair, exclusion, and poverty. Undermine social cohesion, leading to social unrest and conflict. Situation especially severe among already vulnerable groups such as youth.

3. Asian experiences At the ILO/Japan Tripartite Regional Meeting on Youth Employment in Asia and the Pacific in 2002, a panel of youth from Thailand described their situation as:

3. Asian experiences It is difficult for young people to find work in the Asia-Pacific region, yet they cannot afford to be unemployed. The challenge is not just to find any job but to obtain decent work with at least a minimum wage. Formal employment does not always pay enough to live on, which leads to exploitation of workers.

3. Asian experiences Equal rights are particularly important for young people with disabilities or ethnic minorities. Young people are under enormous pressure to support parents, siblings, and themselves. Jobs are scarce and recruiters sometimes act as “gate keepers” Education and training should be relevant to the labour market.

3. Why measure youth employment?

In order to design, implement, monitor and evaluate appropriate youth employment policies and strategies. Identify the needs of the labour market, provide adequate training and career counselling for youth.

4. How measure youth (un)employment? EY = Employed youth UY = Unemployed youth Youth Labour Force = EY + UY Youth Unemployment rate = UY/YLF*100 Youth Unemployment rate: U(15-24)/LF(15-24)*100

4. Measures The ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) has four measures for youth unemployment

4. KILM 9. Youth Unemployment The indicator consists of four measurements: 1. Youth unemployment rate Thailand (2003) : Male 5 % Female 5.2% 2. Ratio of the youth unemployment rate to the adult unemployment rate Thailand (2003) : Male 5.3 Female 6.8

4. KILM 9. Youth Unemployment 3. Youth unemployment as a proportion of total unemployment Thailand (2003): Male 51.8 % Female 55.7 % 4.Youth unemployment as a proportion of the youth population. Thailand (2003): Male 2.9 % Female 2.3 %

4. Limitations Unemployment is one dimension of the problem. A large number of young people are underemployed. Some would like to work more hours, others might work long hours for low pay or below their potentials.

5. More information needed Length of unemployment «Discouraged youth» who have dropped out of the labour force because they think no work is available or they face barriers and discrimination Employed youth by status in employment – employer, self employed, employee, contributing family member. Working conditions

5. More information needed Employed youth in part-time work and temporary jobs Youth as percentage of migrant workers Proportion of employed youth aged years in hazardous or non-hazardous forms of work Average earnings of youth relative to the minimum wage, median wage, poverty level, etc.

5. More information needed Teenagers versus young adults Levels of education and skills Marital status Ethnic origin Family background Social groups

5. More information needed Rural and urban Youth with disabilities HIV/AIDS

6. Conclusions Under-utilised human resources and loss of potential. One dimension of the general problem of unemployment and underemployment in Asia. High levels of economic growth in many countries in Asia and the pacific is not enough. The challenge cannot be solved without equitable and employment intensive economic growth. More information is needed in order to design appropriate policies and programmes