Youth and Employment

Employment is a major concern among all societies with youth as the main affected by the issue. Recently the world has seen a meltdown in economies causing layoffs, underemployment, and unemployment. Youth have been greatly affected because most of them are only at the stage of seeking employment for the first time after school, and they are disadvantaged due to lack of experience. Most employers are looking to cut losses and maximise profits with as few as possible employees and in the process casting away fresh graduates because they are only learners. The number of youth unemployment keeps on escalating year after year especially in developing countries.

Many young people tend to give up on looking for jobs due to discouragement by these high unemployment rates. Most of them decide to postpone seeking for employment and continue to study because they are left with no other choice and in the end they end up lengthening the transition process from study-life to working life. The lengthy transition process is also caused by the crisis happening in the global labor market that involves an increase in involvement of youth in unproductive, temporary, and part-time work. Educational attainment is highly correlated with employment-outcomes. However, sadly high level of educational attainment does not directly result to more job-opportunities. Therefore, it is crucial to understand characteristics of unemployed youth in the world and all issues happening in labor markets.
All of these issues bring serious concerns and responses from various stakeholders which are international organisations, government-bodies, NGOs, private sectors, and youth themselves. They are working hand in hand to create a way to reduce youth unemployment by using mechanisms such as: placing youth in a labor market process where they can move from study-life to working life smoothly.