The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : JOBS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

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Saturday, Sep 11, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

JOBS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR Organisation has issued the latest call to countries to ensure that their youth are not out in the cold. The message is to pursue economic growth with a thrust on employment generation. The ILO's report on Global Employment Trends for Youth 2004 says that nearly half the population of unemployed today are youth in the age group 15-24. An additional 59 million young people between 15 and 17 years of age are engaged in hazardous forms of work. Another 130 million people hold jobs that cannot pull them out of a wage rate of less than a dollar-a-day. Clearly, the human and social cost of under-employment and unemployment on such a massive scale cannot be mitigated in the absence of a concerted effort. The global community has in recent years woken up to this challenge and various institutions are engaged in evolving long-term strategies to address the situation. The Youth Employment Network (YEN), coordinated by the United Nations, the ILO and the World Bank, has been at the centre of the new initiative. An important proposal is that countries incorporate a youth employment dimension in their employment policies. Integration of the informal into the mainstream economy, removal of bureaucratic obstacles encountered by enterprises, and securing property rights for the poor are some of the other measures YEN has advocated. It has also underscored the need to bring in organisations of youth as key players in formulating such policies.

With developing countries home to 85 per cent of the world's youth, the magnitude and dimensions of the challenge are formidable. Today youth constitute 25 per cent of the world's working-age population (15-64 years). Democratic indicators suggest their ranks will swell greatly during the next decade. However, over the past 10 years, participation in the labour force from this segment of the population has seen a decline. Population growth has overtaken the rate of employment in most developing countries. While it may be tempting to interpret the trend as an inevitable outcome of the population explosion, such a rationalisation will be insensitive as well as counterproductive. As the ILO has emphasised, youth should be seen as an asset rather than a burden. Further, the organisation has cautioned that growing unemployment among youth is not entirely on account of the number of years spent in higher education. On the contrary, education remains the key to kickstart worthwhile careers for youth. Insecure employment, the absence of social protection, and a lack of voice for youth affect especially the low-skilled who constitute the base of the informal economies in developing countries. This is borne out by the fact that youth virtually everywhere face a greater risk of unemployment than the older segments of the population.

Fifty-nine per cent of the total unemployed in India are youth. The number is likely to increase in the coming decades. It is imperative that governments as well as civil society organisations and industry are alive to this depressing reality. Hearteningly, Sri Lanka is among the nine countries that have taken a lead role under YEN in formulating national action plans for youth employment. India, a laggard in this respect, should fulfil its commitment to draw up a national plan by 2005. Employability, equal opportunities for women and men, entrepreneurship, and employment creation are obligations the Government has already recognised in the context of the rights of trade unions. It is time the spotlight was turned on this crucial segment of the population.

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