To this figure we should add the number of working young people living below the poverty line – more than 300 million people live on less than $2 a day. Of the 1.1 billion young people in the world, one in three is either looking for work, unable to find it, has given up looking altogether, or is working but living on less than $2 a day. 56% of young people work and live in poverty.
The specialized UN agency emphasizes that 44% of all unemployed are young people, even though the share of young people in the economically active population is only 25%. At the same time, the employment rate has grown by only 5.2% over ten years. The youth unemployment rate (13.5%) exceeds the same figure for adults (4.6%). Moreover, the risk of being unemployed is three times higher for young people.
The most unfavorable regions in terms of youth employment can be considered the Middle East and North Africa – these countries have the highest youth unemployment rate at 25.7%. In Central and Eastern Europe, this figure is 19.9%. Youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa was 18.1%, in Latin America and the Caribbean – 16.6%, in Southeast Asia and the Pacific – 15.8%, in developed countries and EU states – 13.1%, South Asia – 10%, East Asia – 7.8%.
The only group of countries that saw significant growth in youth employment over the past decade is developed countries and EU states. However, the study's authors attribute this not so much to achievement as to a simple reduction in the number of young people in the region. The organization also expresses concern about the increase in the proportion of young people who are neither working nor studying; in Central and Eastern Europe, for example, their number is 34%. Developed countries, in turn, face another problem: after completing their education, young people feel insecure and often have difficulty finding their first job.
According to the ILO, the problem lies in the fact that 'obtaining additional or better education does not guarantee decent work. Therefore, at least 400 million quality jobs need to be created.'
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