The International Labour Organization released the World Employment Social Outlook: Youth Trends 2016, which analyses several variables that impact youth employment.

According to the report, the global economic growth in 2016 is expected to stand at 3.2 %, 0.4% lower than the figure estimated by the end of 2015. The drop is linked to recessions that were deeper than expected in some key emerging commodity-exporting countries, such as Argentina, Brazil and the Russian Federation. Furthermore, developing countries are at their lowest growth rate since 2003 (only 4.2%). Global investment and hiring decisions remain subdued in the face of the uncertainty generated by a rapidly changing environment.

These variables have impacted youth unemployment, which is growing. The youth unemployment rate is expected to reach 13.1 % in 2016 (compared to 12.9% in 2015), quite close to the historic peak of 2013, which was 13.2%. Consequently, the number of unemployed youth globally will rise by half a million in 2016 to reach 71 million and will remain at this level in 2017.

There are differences depending on the classification of countries. For instance, the deterioration is particularly marked in emerging countries where the unemployment rate is predicted to rise from 13.3% in 2015 to 13.7% in 2017, which stands for 53.5 million unemployed in 2017, compared to 52.9 million in 2015. Meanwhile, in developing countries, the youth unemployment rate is expected to remain relatively stable, at around 9.5% in 2016. However, when discussing absolute numbers, a 0.2 million increase is expected in 2016 to reach 7.9 million unemployed youth in 2017. The main cause is the expanding labour force. As regards developed countries, youth unemployment rate is expected to reach 14.5% (9.8 million people). The rate is estimated to go down in 2017, but at a very low pace.

According to the report, unemployment figures understate the true extent of youth labour market challenges. Large numbers of young people are working, but do not earn enough to lift themselves out of poverty. Moreover, youth exhibit a higher incidence of working poverty than adults: 37.7% of working youth are living in extreme or moderate poverty in 2016, compared to 26% of working adults. In addition to low pay, young people frequently work involuntarily in informal, part-time or temporary jobs.

Faced with this situation, which includes unemployment, poverty and informal employment, young people look for education and employment opportunities abroad. In 2015, almost 51 million international migrants were aged between of 15 and 29, more than half of whom resided in developed economies.

The report claims that global labour force participation rates of youth are following a long-term downward trend, from 53.6% in 2000 to 45.8% in 2016. This is due to positive and negative causes. For instance, the participation rate has fallen due to a larger number of young people who are 15 to 19 years old pursuing upper secondary education. However, among people aged 20 to 29, the lack of viable employment opportunities is often the primary factor discouraging youth participation in the labour market.

A negative outcome of this situation is the growing share of youth are neither employed, nor in education or training (NEET), a status which carries risks of skills deterioration, underemployment and discouragement.

In addition, most labour market indicators show wide disparities between young males and females, underpinning and giving rise to wider disparities during the transition to adulthood. Such disparities can represent inequalities of opportunity and reflect deep-rooted socio-economic and cultural challenges that tend to disproportionately disadvantage women.

Clearly, a strong commitment and very hard work is needed in order to tackle the problems that youth faces, which include: unemployment, informality, underemployment, gender disparities, among others.

In order to read the full World Employment Social Outlook 2016, click here.