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Youth:Employment, Unemployment and
Labour Market Programmes
Niall O’Higgins, Senior Research Specialist,
Youth Employment Programme, ILO, Geneva
CREATING JOBS FOR EQUITY AND PROSPERITY, REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSION, 16-17 APRIL 2015, SKOPJE
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Introduction
• Youth Labour Market Situation
• Policies and programmes to promote youth employment
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Youth Unemployment is a major challenge
Alban
ia
Bosni
a an
d Her
zego
vina
Mac
edon
ia, F
YR
Mon
tene
gro
Serb
ia
Turk
ey
Bulga
ria
Croa
tia
Roman
ia
Euro
pean
Uni
on0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
200320082013
4
As can be seen also from the ratio of the youth (15-24) unemployment rate to the adult (25-49) unemployment
rate
Mace-donia,F
YR
Turkey Bulgaria Croatia Romania EU280
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
200320082013
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But the real ‘unemployment’ problem concerns the long-term unemployed, also
amongst the young
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Macedonia,FYRTurkeyBulgariaCroatiaRomaniaEU28
Lon
g-t
erm
un
em
plo
yed
as
a %
of
all
un
em
plo
yed
(ag
ed
15
-24
)
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Also, job quality is an issue for young people
Male Female Urban Rural Total0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Informal Employment amongst young people (15-29) in Macedonia, FYR
% o
f all y
ou
th e
mp
loym
en
t,
Informality and poor quality employment
• Informal employment rates (and other indicators of poor job quality) are disproportionately high for the young
• Concentrated amongst the least educatede.g. in Macedonia, FYR prevalence is around 70% amongst young people with primary education or less; under 20% for those with tertiary education
• Consequences:Strongly associated with
– job dissatisfaction– ill-health– Lower wages
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What to do about it? Youth unemployment strongly dependent on Aggregate
Demand Labour Market Institutions:
reducing employment protection is not the answer EPL associated with lower job turnover, not more jobs for YP
Tax wedge (Gap between wages received by workers and labour costs paid by employers) - consistently found to have a strong positive impact on youth unemployment (e.g. Jimeno & Rodriguez-Palenzuela, 2002), and negative impact on youth employment (Bassanini & Duval, 2006; Bertola et al. 2007)
Need to recognise (and exploit) complementarity amongst institutions and programmes
Stronger EPL associated with productivity gains – supports economic growth
Resolving problems associated with regulation is more about designing AND APPLYING rational rules rather than removing regulations per se
Education and Training systems – important, but long term solution
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ALMPs ALMPs = promising avenue to develop and
improve Effectiveness varies greatly according to a
number of factors Comprehensive interventions Job Search Assistance Training vs. employment subsidies On-the-job training Public vs. Private Business Cycle Targetting Social partner involvement Timing of evaluation
• Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship?
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Thank You & Best of Luck