Lo and behold! Preca-rious times lie ahead for the young and the unemployed as youth unemployment is all set to continue growing, all the way to 2017, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a UN agency.
The labor market around the world is being callous to the youth, and it is not surprising that latest global employment outlook by the United Nation agency is anchored to the vulnerable young and jobless falling in the age bracket of 15-24 years.
As the global economy struggles to get its footing, and the economic rot spreads to engulf Germany, the Euro zone is far from an imminent recovery. Moreover, the emerging economies are now catching a cold from miseries of the developed world, worsening the situation for job seekers everywhere in the world.
As luck would have it, the outlook suggests that during the forthcoming five to six years, youth unemployment would persist except for the developed economies where the unemployment rates are expected to fall gradually from 17.5 percent in 2012 to 15.6 percent later in 2017.
But these numbers should not mislead decision makers as much of the decline in the jobless rates is not due to some turnaround in the labor market but discouragement forcing people to drop out of the labor force. And once ousted from the labor force, at least the indicators and growth statistics improve.
The spill-over effects of the global faltering demand created a slowdown of activities in the emerging Asian economies. Blemished by heightened immobility and unemployment, the young job seekers in the developing world are relatively vulnerable due to the increasing incidence of underemployment and poverty in the region.
The outlook also highlights the rising discouragement trend which needs to be dealt with at the earliest. The UN agency stresses on the need for employment guarantee schemes and training programmes, which might be cheaper to apply in developed economies.
Though the developing economies public finance situation might not allow for such actions, the developing world would also be left with no choice but to adopt similar strategies given the long term social and economic cost of prevailing youth unemployment.
Youth unemployment rates forecasts
2012 2017
Global 12.7% 12.9%
Developed Economies 17.5% 15.6%
East Asia 9.5% 10.4%
Latin America & Caribbean 14.6% 14.7%
Middle East 26.4% 28.4%
North Africa 27.5% 26.7%
South Asia 9.6% 9.8%
South East Asia & Pacific 13.1% 14.2%
Sub-Saharan Africa 12.0% 11.8%
Source: UN International Labour Organization
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