Policies for Youth Employment - A global framework to tackle the youth jobs crisis

We have never before seen a crisis like the one facing young people today and it's a crisis that requires everyone to act together. That means governments together with the social partners have to address the crisis now, through strategies that focus on growth and jobs, and through policies and programs that prioritize young people. Why? Because young people face more difficulties in the labour market, especially those who are low-skilled, those who are exposed to long-term unemployment or, most importantly, those who are stuck in what we call the informal economy, where work is low paid and unprotected. A global framework, adopted by representatives of governments, employers and workers organizations calls for action in 5 main policy areas: - Economic policies for growth and job creation, - Education and training, -Labour market policies - Entrepreneurship and labour rights. Here's what we need to do in each area: -Youth employment is bound to the overall employment situation. Therefore, we need a strong focus on growth and jobs, including through a more coordinated macroeconomic response at national and global levels. -Work experience, including through apprenticeships, is particularly important to achieve impact and scale on youth employment, reduce the mismatch of skills, and ease transitions to work. The best apprenticeship systems work closely with governments, training providers, enterprises, and the social partners to ensure young people have the skills that are in demand in the labour market. - At the same time, small and medium sized enterprises need to access credit to allow them to employ more young workers; and that young people are afforded the same rights as adult workers. This is particularly important for labour markets where young people are over-represented in informal jobs or trapped in involuntary, part-time or temporary work. - Comprehensive employment programmes and services that target disadvantaged young persons have generally done better than those that concentrate, for example only on training or only on job search. The best ones combine education and training with work-experience and job-placement support. They include incentives for employers to hire disadvantaged youth, such as wage subsidies, tax cuts or social security exemptions for a limited period. In countries where most young people are working in subsistence jobs in the informal economy, strategies and programmes for employment and livelihoods are needed. Literacy, occupational and entrepreneurial skills, as well as help to access credit, non-financial services and markets are most important here. Of course, we should encourage entrepreneurship among youth and promote youth-led enterprises and cooperatives where we can. Countries like Finland, Norway and Sweden, among others, have managed to keep young people connected to the labour market through youth employment guarantees. These programs combine skills training, work experience, job-search support and lead to a decent job that meets their skills and aspirations. Similarly, other countries managed to improve employment and income of young workers in poor jobs. This is the case of the "Jóvenes" programmes that have been successfully implemented in several countries of Latin America. The economic and social consequences that would derive from inaction are far more costly than the actual investment in these programs. This is a fair investment that can be managed through cost-effective policies, even in countries that are currently engaged in fiscal consolidation. The current young generation is worse off than we were 20 years ago and we need to urgently expand action to address the current youth employment crisis. We must keep the objective of improving the economic and social situation from one generation to another as it has been in the past. We cannot afford to go backward.