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STORY: ILO / YOUTH EMPLOYMENT REPORT
TRT: 2:44
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTIONS: UNDER EMBARGO TILL 11 AUGUST 2024 6PM EST
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 AUGUST 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE
1. Close up, UN flag
08 AUGUST 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mia Seppo, Assistant Director-General Jobs and Social Protection, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“The ILO report shows that we actually see a record low of youth unemployment, the 15 year low of 13 percent, which is an extraordinary finding. However, this is uneven across regions. And women are not benefiting from this recovery to the same extent as young men. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And the report is putting forward the lessons learned over 20 years of what works and what the ILO has learned when it comes to youth employment.”
17 JULY 2024, BANGKOK, THAILAND
3. Various shots, Sarasvati Perenchio from Bangkok, Thailand. 23 years old and it has been one year since graduation from the Faculty of Arts at Chulalongkorn University
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarasvati Perenchio, Young Job Seeker:
“A lot of people in my generation are aware that job nowadays are quite oppressive when it comes to like pay. And the pay a lot of the times is not parallel with the inflation. And sometimes we are really worried if we are able to pay our bills and able to keep a happy life at the same time that we have this job. And I think a lot of people start to feel anxious. They might feel, to the point where they feel depressed. They might feel a bit, they may feel like.... they might not care anymore about this job market because of the anxieties that come with the with come with a job search.”
01 AUGUST 2024, ANTELIAS, LEBANON
5. Various shots, Elio Khoury, 22 years old.
Elio is a recent graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He's been looking for a job, but most companies are turning him down because he doesn't have any work experience. The few job offers he has received offer very low pay, not enough for him to support his parents and himself.
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Elio Khoury, Young Job Seeker:
“The most difficult situation I faced was that most companies wanted candidates with work experience, and I was competing for jobs against qualified candidates who were more experienced. I have still not found any company willing to invest in me or in developing my skill set in the long term, and I still cannot break the endless cycle of needing experience to get a job, but also needing a job to acquire experience.”
7. Med shot, Elio Khoury driving away in a car
The global labour market outlook for young people has improved in the last four years, and the upward trend is expected to continue for two more, according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report.
However, the report, titled Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 (GET for Youth), cautions that the number of 15- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is concerning, and that the post-COVID 19 pandemic employment recovery has not been universal. Young people in certain regions and many young women are not seeing the benefits of the economic recovery.
The 2023 youth unemployment rate, at 13 per cent, equivalent to 64.9 million people, represents a 15-year low and a fall from the pre-pandemic rate of 13.8 per cent in 2019. It is expected to fall further to 12.8 per cent this year and next. The picture, however, is not the same across regions. In the Arab States, East Asia and South-East Asia and the Pacific, youth unemployment rates were higher in 2023 than in 2019.
The GET for Youth also cautions that young people face other “headwinds” in finding success in the world of work. It notes that too many young people across the globe are NEET and opportunities to access decent jobs remain limited in emerging and developing economies. One in five young people, or 20.4 per cent, globally were NEET in 2023. Two in three of these NEETs were female.
For the youth who do work, the report notes the lack of progress in gaining decent jobs. Globally, more than half of young workers are in informal employment. Only in high- and upper-middle-income economies are the majority of young workers today in a regular, secure job. And three in four young workers in low-income countries will get only a self-employed or temporary paid job.
The report cautions that the continuing high NEET rates and insufficient growth of decent jobs are causing growing anxiety among today’s youth, who are also the most educated youth cohort ever.
“None of us can look forward to a stable future when millions of young people around the world do not have decent work and as a result, are feeling insecure and unable to build a better life for themselves and their families. Peaceful societies rely on three core ingredients: stability, inclusion, and social justice; and decent work for the youth is at the heart of all three,” explained Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO Director-General.
Moreover, the report finds that young men have benefited more from the labour market recovery than young women. The youth unemployment rates of young women and young men in 2023 were nearly equal (at 12.9 per cent for young women and 13 per cent for young men), unlike the pre-pandemic years when the rate for young men was higher. And the global youth NEET rate of young women doubled that of young men (at 28.1 per cent and 13.1 per cent, respectively) in 2023.
“The report reminds us that opportunities for young people are highly unequal; with many young women, young people with limited financial means or from any minority background still struggling. Without equal opportunities to education and decent jobs, millions of young people are missing out on their chances for a better future,” added Houngbo.
The ILO report calls for greater attention on strengthening the foundations of decent work as a pathway to countering young people’s anxieties about the world of work and reinforcing their hope for a brighter future.
In a message to young readers, the report’s authors ask them to add their voices to calls for change. “You have the possibility to influence policy and to advocate for decent work for all. Know your rights and continue investing in your skills,” the message says. “Be a part of the change that we all need to ensure a socially just and inclusive world.”
This 12th edition of the GET for Youth marks the report’s 20-year anniversary. It looks back at what has been achieved in this century to improve young people’s working prospects and considers the future for youth employment “in an era characterized by crises and uncertainties”. Looking at longer-term trends, the report concludes that:
Growth in “modern” services and in manufacturing jobs for youth has been limited, although modernization can be brought to traditional sectors through digitalization and AI.
There are not enough high-skill jobs for the supply of educated youth, especially in middle-income countries.
Keeping skills development on pace with evolving demands for green and digital skills will be critical to reducing education mismatches.
The growing number of conflicts threatens young people’s future livelihoods and can push them into migration or towards extremism.
Demographic trends, notably the African ‘youthquake’ means creating enough decent jobs, will be critical for social justice and the global economy.
The report calls for increased and more effective investment, including in boosting job creation with a specific target on jobs for young women, strengthening the institutions that support young people through their labour market transitions including young NEETs, integrating employment and social protection for youth, and tackling global inequalities through improved international cooperation, public-private partnerships and financing for development.
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