Today 1.5 billion people are aged between12–24 worldwide, 1.3 billion of them in developing countries (World Development Report 2007).

According to the United Nations, youth includes women and men aged 15 – or, when dealing with youth employment, the age at which work is allowed according to national laws - to 24 . It is estimated that this group makes up 18 percent of the global population (2006) and 25 percent of the total working age population (UNDESA 2006).

Around 88.2 million young women and men are unemployed throughout the world, accounting for 47 per cent of all the 185.9 million unemployed persons globally (ILO 2006). An estimated 400 million youth worldwide – or about one third of all youth aged 15 to 24 – suffer from a deficit of decent work opportunities. T he vast majority of jobs available to youth are low paid, insecure, and with few benefits or prospects for advancement. Around 25 percent of the youth population works, but lives on less than the equivalent of US$ 2 per day (UNDP, 2007).

In addition, youth are vulnerable as they often have no access to trade unions (especially the 15 – 18 group) and their interests are not protected. ILO estimates that 93 percent of the jobs currently available to young people in developing countries are in the informal economy: earnings are low, working conditions are unsafe and there is little or no access to social protection. Young women face additional difficulties as they are more likely to be confined to least protected and least paid jobs. Indigenous youth, lacking work opportunities in their long-held territories, also face specific vulnerabilities when seeking employment in other areas.

Around eighty-five per cent of the 500 million people who will become of working age in the next decade live in developing countries. This situation presents the world with an unprecedented opportunity to invest in youth to accelerate growth and reduce poverty. The developing world’s youth is the next generation of economic and social actors. They are powerful agents of change and sources of ideas and solutions for sustainable development.

The promotion of decent work for the youth can prevent child labour, where children are defined as all persons younger than 18, according to art. 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. A great difference can be made especially regarding the elimination of the worst forms of child labour involving children aged 15-18, by ensuring that children in this age group are not involved in hazardous activities and other worst forms of child labour, but only in work that is appropriate for their age (ILO Convention 182). According to ILO estimates, there are around 52 million 15-17 years-old involved in worst forms of child labour, many of them in agriculture.

Youth employment is targeted in the Millennium Development Goals (Goal 8, target 16). Under the impetus of the Millennium Declaration in 2001, the Youth Employment Network (YEN) was created by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) , the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN) to "develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work". The work of the YEN has been strengthened by a series of UN General Assembly Resolutions which encourage member states to develop a comprehensive approach to youth employment. In 2004 the YEN has published the Guide to Youth Employment, which provides recommendations and g uidelines for the development of National Action Plans for Youth Employment.

Youth employment in agriculture

In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia , up to 70 percent of youth live in rural areas and half the youth population entering the labour force work in agriculture ( IFAD, 2007). On the other hand, rural areas are losing the young productive workforce, due to consistent rural-urban migration of young people and the spread of HIV/AIDS, which affects a vast majority of people in the prime of their working lives.

There is an urgent need to provide appropriate education, training, and job opportunities that give rural youth the choice of staying, working and prospering in rural areas. Creation of youth employment in agriculture could help reduce worst forms of child labour, promote rural employment and development and help reduce poverty by raising incomes. FAO and ILO are committed to the promotion of youth employment, that is to provide all young people in the developing countries with sufficient opportunities to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity, and to achieve a working life that makes full use of their talents, abilities and aspirations.

Policy goals and joint initiatives

FAO and ILO shared policy goals for youth employment include the following:

• Mainstream children and youth as priority groups that require special focus and targeted development policies and programmes.
• Ensure that all major development policies, programmes and investments are planned in consultation with young people, taking full account of their views and needs and of possible impacts on them.
• Involve youth men and women in rural and agricultural policy- and decision-making at the community, national and international levels.
• Provide rural children and youth with appropriate educational, informal training and volunteering programmes that value agriculture and rural life and equip young people for mixed rural and urban livelihoods.
• Facilitate the entry of youth into formal jobs by providing apprenticeships and training programmes, and including young people who lack formal education.
• Provide rural youth, particularly women, with access to land and the financial services that are available to adults.

Within the framework of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Mozambique (2007 to 2009), seven UN agencies, including ILO and FAO, have committed to support Mozambique in strengthening its capacity to promote decent work through the Joint Programme on youth employment. The ILO’s contribution focuses on improving employability of young women and men, reducing their risks and vulnerabilities as they enter the labour market, and enhancing their prospects for income-generation and decent employment. This will be achieved through facilitating access to business development and related services for the youth, and by supporting those young people interested in self-employment opportunities. FAO contributes by strengthening the capacity of youth graduates from the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) initiative to create their own employment. Specific training, in collaboration with ILO and UNDP are provided to the young graduates.

A similar initiative has been proposed in Vietnam by FAO and ILO, together with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Through the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality for 2007-2010 , the four organizations plan to contribute to the economic empowerment of the country, with a particular attention to the creation of decent employment. More specifically, the main areas for action are: i) promotion of equality of treatment and opportunity in labour and employment; ii) education and capacity building for institutions; iii) data collection and sex-disaggregated data.

In Uruguay , various UN agencies, including FAO, have agreed upon a three year programme to achieve MDG Target 16. The programme aims at strengthening the technical, institutional and dialogue relationships among local actors, in order to prepare a national youth employment plan. Similar joint FAO and ILO initiatives, involving also other UN agencies, are being undertaken in Afghanistan , Zambia and Uruguay.

 

Contacts

FAO Focal Point: Eve Crowley, ESWD (Eve.Crowley@fao.org)

ILO Focal Point: Peter Hurst, IPEC (hurst@ilo.org)