Youth unemployment is a special case of unemployment; youth, here, meaning those between the ages of 15 and 24.[1]
Young people have difficulties finding work, consistently different from those of the general workforce. They also are affected in distinct ways. Unemployment rates among them are higher than those of adults almost everywhere,[2] but differ greatly between countries and regions.[3] [4]
About 17 per cent of the world's population are aged between 15 and 24, 1.2 billion people;[5] 87% of them live in developing countries.[5] The age range defined by the United Nations[5] addresses the period when mandatory schooling ends until the age of 24.[6] This definition remains controversial as it not only impacts unemployment statistics but also affects the solutions designed by policy makers.
There are two important notes to be made regarding these statistics.
The first is that the concept of youth is a socially constructed one and will differ from country to country.[7] In most European countries young adults are more likely to live with their parents longer;[8] and others, like South Korea, will have mandatory military service for men, for example.
And the second, that differing definitions of unemployment can lead to incomparable accounts of young people out of work. Some countries will not count those as unemployed who do not have a job but do not actively seek work - often women.[9]
There are multiple and complex causes behind youth unemployment. Among them, the quality and relevance of education, the inflexible labor market, and regulations are the main causes discussed today. How they can be adjusted, and how they in turn create a situation of assistance and dependency, are the focus of the discussion.
The quality and relevance of education is often considered to be the root cause of youth unemployment.[10] In 2010, in 25 out of 27 developed countries, the highest unemployment rate was among people with primary education or less[11] Yet, high education does not guarantee a decent job. For example, in Tunisia, 40% of university graduates are unemployed against 24% of non-graduates.[10] This affects highly educated young women in particular. "In Turkey, the unemployment rate among university educated women is more than 3 times higher than that of university educated men; in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, it is nearly 3 times; and in Saudi Arabia, it is 8 times".[10]
Beyond the necessity to ensure its access to all, education is not adequately tailored to the needs of the labour market, which in turns leads to two consequences: the inability for young people to find jobs and the inability for employers to hire the skills they need. Combined with the economic crisis and the lack of sufficient job creation in many countries, it has resulted in high unemployment rates around the world and the development of a skills crisis. Surveys suggest that up to half of all businesses have open positions for which they are struggling to find suitably qualified people.[12] One global survey found that more than 55% of employers worldwide believe there is a "skill crisis"[12] as businesses witness a growing mismatch between the skills students learn in the education system and those required in the workplace. For many governments, a key question is how they can bridge this gap and ensure that young people are equipped with the skills employers are looking for.
First, a high level of new employees should turn out to be unmotivated or incompetent.[13] Second, the development of temporary forms of work such as internships, seasonal jobs and short term contracts have left young workers in precarious situations. Because their jobs are temporary contracts, youth are often the first to be laid off when a company downsizes.[14] If they are laid off, youth are typically not eligible for redundancy payments because they only worked with the company for a short period of time.[15] Once this work ends, many find themselves unemployed and disadvantaged in the job search. However, some youth are entering work on a part-time basis during tertiary education. This rate is low in countries like Italy, Spain and France but in the United States almost one-third of students combine education and work.
The legitimacy of internships has begun to be questioned. The purpose of internships is to allow students or recent graduates to acquire work experience and a recommendation letter to add to their curriculum vitae. However, many interns have complained that they are simply performing basic grunt work, rather than learning important knowledge and skills. Whether or not these internship positions are now violating the federal rules that are in place to govern programmes such as internships remains to be seen. The internship however, seems to be the only viable alternative to job placement for the young individual. With little to no job growth occurring, the unemployment rate among those fresh out of college and at the later end of the 15–24 aged youth spectrum is approximately 13.2% as of April 2012.[16]
Many countries around the world provide income assistance to support unemployed youth until labour market and economic conditions improve.[17] Although this support is strictly related to obligations in terms of active job search and training, it has led to an emerging debate on whether or not it creates dependency among the youth and has a detrimental effect on them.[18] In September 2014, David Cameron announced that he would cut housing and employment benefits for 18- to 21-year-olds by £3,000 to £23,000[19] to reduce dependency on government assistance and redirect funding to targeted programs for increased learning and training opportunities.
The individual experiences of youth unemployment vary from country to country. Definitions of youth can also vary from country to country so examination of particular countries gives a greater insight into the causes and consequences of youth unemployment.
African countries define youth as someone from as young as 15 to someone well into their mid thirties, which varies from the standardized definition of the United Nations.[20] Africa has the youngest population of any continent which means that the problem of youth unemployment in the continent particularly relevant. Although youth unemployment is high, this does not necessarily make the causes of unemployment youth-specific; many of the causes of unemployment, such as poor infrastructure or insufficient educational qualifications, affect older and younger Africans alike.[21] Approximately 200 million people in Africa are between the ages of 15 and 24. This number is expected to double in size in the next 30 years.Between 2001 and 2010, countries in Africa reported some of the world's fasted growing economies. In Africa, the message the youth are receiving from schools and adults is to become job creators rather than job-seekers, which encourages them to become entrepreneurs. Every year, up to 12 million graduates are entering the labour market and only 3 million of them are getting jobs. This shows that "the mountain of youth unemployment is rising annually.”[22]
It is interesting to observe a very high unemployment rate among the young population of Armenia (34%), even though a very large number of Armenian youth are highly educated. Almost 99% of the population has completed secondary education, and 33.4% have got a university/college education.[23] A significant portion of the unemployed are people with the lowest levels of education; however, the percentage of unemployed among more educated young people is also high. In general, one of the main problems in the Armenian labor market is the mismatch between supply and demand. The high level of youth unemployment is a priority issue in the field of employment. In Armenia, the unemployment rate among the population aged 15–24 was 32.6% in 2019. According to the survey 64,6% of young men and 52.3% of women aged 19–25 are employed.[24] The study also shows that the youth are less involved in industry and chemical production, although there is a demand for young people in those areas.
The Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia reported the data. According to the most recent statistics, 2.96 million people called Armenia home in December 2021.
While Canada's economy recovered from the 2008 global recession more smoothly than anticipated, in 2012, 14.3% of Canadian youth were unemployed, up from 11.2% in 2007 and double the current national jobless rate of 7.2%, according to Statistics Canada. That amounts to the biggest gap between youth and adult unemployment rates since 1977.[26] The average post-secondary graduate carries $28,000 in student debt.[27] The unemployment rate for Canadian young people is about double that of the rest of the population.[28] In Canada's largest province, Ontario, the rate of unemployment for those between the ages of 15–24 hovers around 13%. In 2012, the percentage of youth in Ontario who actually had a jb did not rise above 52%. Toronto's youth unemployment rate was at 18% at the same time, but only 43% of the area's youth were employed, the lowest rate in the province.[29]
Due to the great recession in Europe, in 2009, only 15% of males and 10% of females between ages 16–19 in were employed full-time. The youth employment rate in the European Union reached an all-time low of 32.9% in the first half of 2011.[30] Of the countries in the European Union, Germany sticks outs with its low rate of 7.9%.[31] Some critics argue that the decrease of the youth unemployment began even before the economic downturn, countries such as Greece and Spain.
In October 2019, 3.2 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU-28, of whom 2.26 million were in the euro area. The youth unemployment rate was 14.4% in the EU-28 and 15.6% in the euro area, compared with about 25% in 2013. The lowest rates were observed in Czechia (5.5%) and Germany (5.8%), while the highest were recorded in Greece (33.1% in the second quarter of 2019), Spain (32.8%) and Italy (27.8%).[32]
Various countries have enacted a Youth Guarantee plan targeting youth unemployment.[33] [34]
In 2017 the youth unemployment rate in France was 22.3%, relatively high compared to the overall unemployment rate of 8.9%.[35] France has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment among the EU countries, trailing behind Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.[36]
The level of education is a factor that affects unemployment for the French youth population. Those who do not enter into higher education programmes have an employment rate of 30% which is exceedingly low compared to an employment rate of more than 80% for those who entered into higher education.[37] France also experiences a large high school drop out rate, resulting in a high population of low-skilled youth workers. Lacking vocational training or adequate skills that employers look for, many French youths are without options for employment.
This issue of unemployment has been on the French agenda for decades and has prompted many efforts to reduce its impact. In 2010 France established a labour law to set a statutory minimum wage for the youth population. Also, public programmes include the promotion of job training to better equip workers to enter novel positions, creating more jobs particularly for low-skilled workers, and reducing labour costs through subsidies and other efforts.[38]
Compared to other highly developed and OECD member countries, France displays higher unemployment rates as well as longer duration. From 1983 to 2018 youth unemployment rate in France experienced an overall increase. It averaged at a rate of 20.19% reaching a max of 26.2% in 2012.[39]
From 1979 to 1984, France saw its legislated minimum wage, the SMIC (salaire minimum interprofessional de croissance), rise sharply. Historically, a rise in the SMIC has shown to result in increased unemployment rates amongst the country's youth population.[40] At the end of this period, the unemployment rate for youths was 26%, almost double the average OECD youth unemployment rate.[41] France also saw double digit declines in active youths in the labour market from the years 1980–2007.[42]
In an effort to combat youth unemployment, France attempted to improve their education system because France sees declining rates of unemployment amongst those who have received higher levels of education. The less educated however, not only experience increased unemployment rates, but longer durations of unemployment. For instance, in 1996, 58% of the lowest educated labour market population experienced an average of one year of unemployment.[43] France has made achievements in increasing higher education amongst its youth, attaining the Europe 2020 target of reducing early school leaving to below 10%.[44] France offers mostly free higher education and the government supplies students with stipends.[45]
Like other countries in the European Union, France has enacted school-to-work policies in order to facilitate the school-two-work transition for youths once they have completed their higher education. They have longer transition time for students entering the work force and include offers newly graduated students several tools to enhance their market inclusion. The government has taken several measures in an effort to lower labour costs such as subsidized employment contracts and multiple VET placements. However, these policies have appeared to return minor results as the country continues to report high youth unemployment rates especially among differing social classes. First, they are less effective among the youth migrant population who face disconnect from the labour market due to France's employment-centred economy experiencing, on average, unemployment rates that are 4% higher than non-migrant workers.[46] Furthermore, there is also prevalent gender disparities among the younger population.[46]
See also: Youth Unemployment in Greece. Youth unemployment levels in Greece remain one of the highest in the world. According to one source, between 2000 and 2008, youth inactivity increased from 63% to 72%.[47] A different source using the harmonized definition of unemployment lists the unemployment rate of youth up to 24 years of age as 24.2% in Greece during 2009.[48] To put this into perspective, the EU-27 average at the time was 18.3%. Youth unemployment rose to 40.1% in May 2011 and then again to about 55% in November 2012.[49]
In addition to youth unemployment (namely those up to 25 years of age), Greece also faced severe graduate unemployment of those 25–29 years of age. In 1998, Greece had the highest level of unemployment of higher education graduates in the 25–29 year old age group. This was due to a lack of demand for highly educated personnel at the time.[50] This trend of low employment among those with higher educational qualifications continues on today. As recently as 2009, "one in three higher education graduates, two in three secondary graduates, and one in three compulsory education graduates have not found some form of stable employment."[51] This lack of employment is thought to have contributed to the feelings of frustration among youth that eventually led to the 2008 Greek riots.
These high levels of unemployment are exacerbated by the failure of unions to attract young workers. GSEE's Young Workers Committee revealed in a 2008 presentation that almost two-thirds of young workers did not join their workplace unions.[52] Although unions like GSEE and ADEDY actively promote wage increases through collective bargaining efforts and have contributed to obtaining higher wages for young workers, the wages of young workers remained much lower than almost all other countries in EU-15.
The youth unemployment rate was around 10% in 2005, but they have not reliably reported statistics to the United Nations over the years.[53] However, there has been an increase in young adults remaining in school and getting additional degrees simply because there are not opportunities for employment. These youth are typically of a lower class, but it can represent a wide variety of individuals across races and classes. In India, the employment system is often reliant on connections or government opportunities.[54]
See main article: Youth unemployment in Italy.
Within the Eurozone, only Greece and Spain display higher rates of youth unemployment than Italy.[55] Similarly to Spain, the percentage of people aged 15–24 excluded from the labour market saw a dramatic rise in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Between 2008 and 2014, youth unemployment rose by 21.5%. By that year, almost 43% of the young were excluded from the labour market in Italy.[56] Furthermore, youth unemployment is unequally distributed throughout the country. In the third quarter of 2014, only 29.7% of the young were unemployed in the North. This number increases to an alarming 51.5% when looking at the South of Italy.[57]
There are 15 million unemployed young men in Arab communities.[58] The youth unemployment rate in Jordan has traditionally been much higher than other countries. In the past ten years, the rate has stayed around 23%. There has been a recent increase in the popular belief that unemployment is the fault of the individual and not a societal problem. However, youth unemployment has also been attributed to increased pressure on service sectors that typically employ more youth in Jordan. Youth unemployment has led to later and later ages of marriage in Jordan, which some view as one of the most important consequences of the phenomenon. Another consequence experienced in Jordan is increased mental health problems. In 2019, the estimated youth unemployment rate in Jordan was at 35%.[59]
Kenya, which one of the quickest growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, averaging GDP growth of 5.7% in 2019, has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in East Africa and data from the country's recent census indicates a worsening unemployment for youth aged between 18–34 years. According to the 2019 census,[60] more than a third of Kenya's youth eligible for work have no jobs. A total of 5,341,182 (38.9%) of the 13,777,600 young Kenyans are jobless. The conventional population of youth aged 18 to 34 is 13.7 million, out of which 61% are working while 1.6 million are seeking work or indicated that there was no work available.
Kenya's young people are considered to be a key resource in the economic transformation of the country. With at least 20% of the country's population between the age of 15 to 24, the East African nation has been touted as one of the countries that can reap a demographic dividend by providing the appropriate education and jobs to its growing youth population.[61] Demographic Divided refers to the economic gain a country can attain when it has a bigger working age population more than a non-working one contributing to the economy.
The Kenyan government continues to make some strides in trying to tackle the high youth unemployment by coming up with various programs under affirmative action. This include the National Youth Service, The National Youth Enterprise Development Fund, The Women Enterprise Fund, Kazi Mtaani[62] [63] and Ajira Digital, which is empowering youth with digital skills to enable them tap in the digital economy. According to a 2021 report by the ministry of ICT, Innovations and Youth Affairs, 5 per cent of Kenyans (1.3 million) were as at June 2021 working online through the Ajira Digital Program.[64]
The Kenya Youth Development Policy 2019,[65] which was launched on 12 August 2020 during the national celebrations of International Youth Day, recognizes the creativity, innovativeness, and productivity presented by youth and their potential to become transformative leaders as key strengths, and promises to harness these strengths for the realization of the demographic dividend. The policy provides a framework to address some of the challenges faced by youth in Kenya, including lack of decent jobs.
Youth unemployment in Russia was over 18% in 2010. However, there was a wide variance in levels of unemployment in Russia just a few years earlier, that continued through the 2008 economic crisis. In 2005, the area around Moscow had an unemployment rate of just 1% while the Dagestan region had a rate over 22%. This may be partially attributed to the differences in levels of development in the region. It has been found that the higher the level of development in a region, the lower the level of both overall and youth-specific unemployment.[66] In Russia, the main cause of youth unemployment has been attributed to lower levels of human capital.[67]
Starting in the 1970s, youth unemployment has been rising at a steady rate in South Africa.[68] Today, South Africa is ranked as the fourth country with the highest percentage of unemployed youth in the world. As of 2014, 52.6% of the people aged 15–24 actively looking for a job were unemployed.[69] Furthermore, youth unemployment is unequally distributed throughout different segments of the population. While unemployment between young whites amounts to 12%, this number skyrockets to a troubling 70% between young blacks.[70] It may be that remnant effects of the apartheid era has led to jobs centres being located farther away from typical homes of black communities compared to white communities. This, lingering discrimination, and unequal backgrounds are among the many reasons for the lopsided distribution of unemployment among young white and black South Africans.[71]
Many of the unemployed youth have never worked before. A proposed reason for this is that South Africa's social pension programme is relatively generous compared to other middle-income countries. Some senior South Africans (mostly applicable to the white population) are paid almost twice the per capita income. This has led to many of the unemployed youth surviving off of their elders' support, thereby reducing incentives to look for employment. In addition, the reservation wages of many young Africans are prohibitively high. Around 60% of males and 40% of females have reservation wages that are higher than they could expect from smaller sized firms.[72] Some overestimate their ability to obtain jobs from competitive, high-paying, larger sized firms and thus remain unemployed. The higher pay of larger firms, in addition to the costs of employment (such as transport or housing costs), make it almost unfeasible for some youth to accept lower paying jobs from smaller firms. Thus, many of the youth in South Africa choose to remain unemployed until they are able to find a job at a larger firm.
South African youth also face problems of education. Many exit the schooling system early. Others face a lack of skill recognition from employers, "even if they have qualifications in the fields that are considered to be in high demand."[73] In the first quarter of 2020, there were 20.4 million young people aged 15–34 years. These young people accounted for 63.3% of the total number of unemployed persons. The unemployment rate within this group was 43.2% in the 1st quarter of 2020. The youth aged 15–24 years are the most vulnerable in the South African labour market as the unemployment rate among this age group was 59.0% in the 1st quarter of 2020. Among graduates in this age group, the unemployment rate was 33.1% during this period compared to 24.6% in the 4th quarter of 2019 – an increase of 8.5 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.[74] this not reliable source[75]