The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has praised the European Youth Guarantee (an organisation working to secure jobs for youth) for its concrete action in connecting young people with available labour markets.
Addressing a high-level conference earlier this week in Brussels, ILO Director General Guy Ryder acknowledged that youth employment is a global crisis.
Themed: “The Youth Guarantee: Making it Happen,” the conference was hosted by the European Commission (EC) and in his keynote speech Ryder said the tragic reality of the youth employment crisis both globally and at the European level is unfortunately getting worse.
According to a statement from ILO released to this paper mid this week, globally, youth unemployment stands at 13.1 per cent. This means that some 74.5 million young people across the world are unemployed and 5.6 million of these are in Europe.
Ryder said without affirmative action the rate would remain that way emphasising:
“If no action is taken, the youth around the world will not be able to get a place in the labour market, nor develop their economic potential or ultimately that of their families.”
“Next to being a tragedy in itself, this clearly has repercussions for our economies and means that our societies will not be able to incorporate the dynamism and innovation that young women and men bring to the labour market that is vital for growth and sustainable development.”
In that light he saluted Europe’s resolve, led by the EC, to take concrete action to make youth employment a top political priority.
He congratulated them and national institutions throughout Europe for launching the Youth Guarantee, saying it is: “An innovative response to the exceptional crisis that rightly targets the most seriously affected among the youth, countries and regions.”
“It allows flexibility in combining different types of measures that work best in various country contexts while maintaining the overarching objective of guaranteed access to employment services, training and/or employment.”
The ILO cooperates in multiple ways with the European Youth Guarantee by formulating recommendations for policy makers and practitioners.
Further, it proposes methodologies for estimating costs of the Youth Guarantees and provides analyses of the investment needed.
However, Youth Guarantees are not a panacea as they need to be embedded in job-rich and inclusive growth policies.
They would therefore provide the demand boost that the global economy needs to recover from the crisis and start on a more sustainable path.
“But they are a concrete and necessary measure to restore hope,” reads the statement noting that the organization “…connects young people with labour markets, prevent de-skilling and provides the opportunity for initial job experience necessary for future employment.”
“Youth Guarantees provides reassurance and protection in difficult times and offers skills that young women and men need to navigate through today’s labour markets that are harder than ever to break into for the first time,” Ryder concluded.
ILO has pledged continued support to the next phase of implementation and monitoring of the Youth Guarantees in Europe and beyond.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
