Trade Union Training on Youth Employment for Leaders of

National Youth Committees in Asia and the Pacific Region

Bangkok10-15 May 2004

Global and Regional Trends in Youth Employment

Elizabeth MorrisSenior Labour Market and Human Resources Policies

SpecialistILO Sub-regional Office for East Asia

Bangkok

Contents

1 Measures

2 Trends3 Limitatio

ns

1 Measures

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

1 Measures

• Youth unemployment rate• Ratio of youth unemployment

rate to adult unemployment rate• Youth unemployment as a

percentage of total unemployment

• Share of unemployed youth in the youth population

How do we measure employment and unemployment?

Where:

E = EmployedU = UnemployedLF = E + U = Labour forceUnemployment rate = U/LF*100

= U/(E + U)*100

How do we measure employment and unemployment?

Youth unemployment rate:

U(15-24)/LF(15-24)*100

How do we measure employment and unemployment?

Ratio of youth unemployment rate to adult unemployment rate:

U(15-24)/LF(15-24)*100 divided by U(25+)/LF(25+)*100

How do we measure employment and unemployment?

Youth unemployment as a percentage of total unemployment:

U(15-24)/U(15+)*100

How do we measure employment and unemployment?

Share of youth unemployment in the youth population:

U(15-24)/P(15-24)*100

Where P = Population

1 Measures

The youth unemployment rate is also used as an indicator for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 16: Develop strategies for decent and productive work for youth

Indicator 45: Unemployment rate of 15-24 year olds, each sex and total

2 Trends

• The growth rate of the world’s youth labour force has accelerated substantially over the past decade, increasing competition among young people for productive employment.

2 Trends

• The world youth unemployment rate in 2003 was 14.4 per cent, more than twice the total world rate of 6.2 per cent and up from 11.7 per cent registered a decade earlier.

2 Trends

• There are 52.4 million young men and 35.8 million young women who are unemployed.

• The share of youth unemployment in total unemployment was 47.4 per cent in 2003 down from 49.5 per cent in 1993.

2 Trends

• The ratio of youth to adult unemployment rates was 3.5 in 2003 up from 3.1 in 1993.

• The share of unemployed youth in the youth population grew from 6.7 per cent in 1993 to 7.9 per cent in 2003.

2 Trends

• There were 526 million employed youth in the world in 2003.

• Employed youth aged 15-24 accounted for 18.8 per cent of total employment in 2003.

2 Trends

• The youth employment-to-population ratio measured by employed youth as a percentage of total youth fell from 51.9 per cent in 1993 to 47.0 per cent in 2003. This could be because relatively more are in education and/or relatively fewer are in employment.

2 Trends

• The total youth labour force including employed plus unemployed was 614 million in 2003.

Unemployment rates: Total and youth by region, 2003

3.3

5.2

6.4

10.2

7.0

14.6

16.5

20.8

0

5

10

15

20

25

Eastern Asia South Asia Southeast Asia Western Asia

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Total Youth

Youth unemployment rates by sex and region, 2003

7.0

14.6

16.5

20.8

14.4

8.1

13.5

15.6

20.1

14.5

5.8

17.1

17.7

22.5

14.2

0 5 10 15 20 25

Eastern Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Western Asia

World

Total Male Female

3 Limitations

Why do we need other measures besides the unemployment rate?

3 Limitations

Unemployment is only one dimension of the problem. A large number of young people in many countries are underemployed.

Some would like more hours of work. Others work long hours below their full potential for low earnings .

3 Limitations

Other information might include:

• 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

3 Limitations

Other information might include:

• Employed youth by status in employment – employer, self employed, employee, contributing family member

• Employed youth in part-time work and temporary jobs

• Youth as a percentage of migrant workers

3 LimitationsOther information might include:

• Proportion of employed youth aged 15-17 years in hazardous or non-hazardous forms of work

• Percentage of youth with no labour contracts and/or social protection

• Average earnings of youth relative to the minimum wage, median wage, poverty level, etc.

3 Limitations

These measures provide information about young women and young men aged 15-24 years. However, we may want to learn more about specific groups.

3 Limitations

• Teenagers (15-19 years) versus young adults (20-24 years)

• Levels of education and skills• Marital status • Ethnic origin• Family background• Social groups

3 Limitations

• Rural and urban• Youth with disabilities• HIV/AIDS

Group Work - LMI Exercise

You will be given some statistics from the ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market in hard copy and Excel files. You are to calculate the four indicators for youth employment and provide a brief analysis. We are will help you use the chart wizard in Excel software to create figures if you wish.