Of chief concern are young people who are neither in employment, nor in education or training – dubbed NEET in many countries. This segment has been growing in recent years, particularly in the developed world, reflecting a deepening detachment from the labour market. It's a troubling sign, given this risks both future employability and social exclusion.
What's more troubling? Millions more “disconnected youth” have given up the job search altogether. The global youth jobless rate this year remains stuck at “crisis peak” levels and won't likely come down until at least 2016, the International Labour Organization predicts in a grim outlook on youth employment published this week.
Canada is not immune. The country's unemployment rate for young people is 13.9 per cent and the 15-to-24 age group has seen little employment gains in the past several years.
Broken down by province, the highest youth jobless rate is in Newfoundland, at 20.2 per cent as of April (according to Statistics Canada's CANSIM data).
Nova Scotia's jobless rate for young people is 19.6 per cent – the highest in a decade. Ontario's rate is 16.4 per cent. By contrast, Alberta has the lowest youth jobless rate in the country, at 8.8 per cent – a contrast that will no doubt continue to lure young people into the province.
To reach NEETs in particular, the report cites a U.S. joint initiative with business leaders and communities to give summer jobs to hundreds of thousands of disconnected and low-income youths to help them gain work experience, skills and contacts.
“The youth unemployment crisis can be beaten but only if job creation for young people becomes a key priority in policy making and private sector investment picks up significantly,” said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive director of the ILO employment sector.
That means offering tax and other incentives to businesses that hire young people, greater efforts to reduce the skills mismatch in youth, more mentoring and access to capital and better social protection for the young, he said.
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D - Hmm, tough sell. Folks are viewing government spending - and job opportunities - as competition in a "zero sum game" right now.
Looked at Greece 'n Spain - c. 1/2 the young adults are unemployed.
I tried to hide in school mid '90s. All I did was drive up my student loan amount. When (if?) a recovery happens, and interest rises to offset inflation, the newest crop of young grads will experience the highest level of student debt ever seen.
The unemployment data is highly misleading. It only counts those still looking for work. This hides c. and additional 1/2 of jobless, maybe even pushing the #s to 2x at times. It also hides students who would prefer to be working, but went back to school to 'weather the storm' of a bleak work outlook.
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