ILO published a report on youth employment trends that states that 35% of the unemployed population in the world are young people.

According to ILO’s report, the global youth unemployment rate by the end of 2017 will reach 13.1%, one tenth higher than last year’s rate. In addition, Latin America will show the highest growth since 2004.

Despite this global increase, the number of 70.9 million unemployed youngsters by 2017 is a “major improvement” when compared to the rate reached with the global economic and financial crisis of 2009. According to ILO, back then, around 76.7 million people aged 15 to 24 years old were unemployed.

In 2018, there will be an extra 200,000 unemployed youngsters in the world, and the total number will be around 71.1 million.

The largest youth unemployment rates in the world come from the Arab States (30%), the north of Africa (28.8%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (19.6%).

ILO expects that highest growth of youth unemployment for our region, going from 18.7% in 2016 to 19.6% in 2017, the highest rate since 2004.

This rate is well above the 14.5% of 2013, and means that another 500,000 young Latin Americans will become unemployed this year.

The good news is that the regional youth unemployment rate will remain stable in 2018.

In Brazil, youth unemployment will reach 30% by 2017, the worst figure ever registered since 1991, and a percentage that can only be partially balanced by the improvements of the unemployment rates in Argentina and Mexico. However, a positive aspect for the region is that it has the lowest percentage of young poor workers. Only 10% of young people who work live under modern to extreme poverty conditions, a rate that is similar among adults.

Employment poverty occurs when people earn less than 60% of the average income of a country.

Berar Awad pointed out that countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico have adopted policies to extend social protection to those who work in the informal sector, in small businesses and in self-employment.

ILO report also points out the double discrimination that young women endure in labour markets throughout the world. Young females’ labour participation rate is 16.6% below man, and their unemployment rate is around 34.4%, while young men’s unemployment rate is around 9.8%.