ILO sounds alarm on global youth unemployment

THE International Labor Organization (ILO) on Wednesday said  lingering jobs crisis have increased the vulnerability of youth in the Philippines alongside poorer states of Bangladesh and Ghana where many households have to resort to selling possessions and borrowing from friends due to erratic wages.

The ILO told governments to intensify education and training of young people entering labor market to increase their potential productivity and employability. It added that governments also need to address the lingering job and skills mismatch through proper labor market information.

The ILO report on Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012 stressed that human capital development and higher levels of education “do not automatically translate into improved labor market outcomes and more jobs.” The ILO argued that available jobs in developing countries are limited by small formal sectors and youth do not necessarily possess needed skills to qualify for those jobs.

“Fast structural change in these economies creates skill and geographical mismatches that pose special challenges for education and training systems and their responsiveness to labor market needs,” said the ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012 report.

The ILO said global youth unemployment, those between 15 and 24 years old remained close to its crisis peak at 12.7 percent. This translates to nearly 75 million unemployed youth around the world, with an increase of 4 million in the last five years.

It added that many young people across the world “have given up the job search altogether or decided to postpone it and continue their stay in the education system.”

In developing countries, including the Philippines, the ILO said many young people are trapped in low-productivity, temporary or other types of work that don’t pave the way for better jobs, while most of the youth in rural areas perform unpaid work supporting informal family businesses or farms.

The Department of Labor and Employment said half of the youth population aged 15 to 24, or 49 percent of them are unemployed.

“Youth in developing economies face strong structural barriers in their search for decent work. The share of paid employment in total employment in much of the developing world is low, and a high share of youth is like to engage in unpaid family work supporting [informal] family businesses or farms,” said the ILO report issued on May 22.

The ILO cited the Philippines, along with less developed economies of Ghana, Bangladesh and Cambodia have been cited as vulnerable to future shocks due to the lingering jobs crisis.  The situation is also seen in countries like the Central African Republic, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mongolia, the Philippines, Serbia and Thailand, Armenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Montenegro, Romania, Nigeria and Tonga. –Estrella Torres / Reporter, Businessmirror