Young people are defined by the United Nations as persons between the ages of 15 and 24 and adults as persons of age 25 years and over. The limitation of employment opportunities to millions of young people in the world of work today is indeed worrisome. The latest figures available indicate that the number of unemployed youth increased steadily between 1993 and 2003, to reach a current high of 88 million unemployed youth. This figure is unfortunately still increasing. In developing countries youth unemployment is even more pronounced in the labour market, making up a higher proportion of the labour force than in the industrialized economies (21.8 per cent as measured against 14.0 per cent in 2003). Worldwide, while youth make up only 25 per cent of the working-age population, their share of the total unemployed however stands at 47 per cent. This is a key indicator of the youth problematic and the intensity of the dilemma. The high rate of unemployment among youth is compounded with the fact that they are more likely to be unemployed than older workers - 3.8 times in the developing regions as against 2.3 times in the industrialized economies. Their jobs are characterised by long working hours, precarious employment in the form of short-term and / or informal contracts, low pay, and little or no social protection, especially for the majority who operate in the informal economy. Furthermore, they are more affected by poverty, social exclusion, and personal frustration, as well as crime, drug abuse, violence and HIV/AIDS. Last but not least, discriminations on the labour market, such as last in–first out practices and lower legal youth minimum wages; lack of adequate education, skills and experience; missing links between education and training institutions and the labour market to facilitate the school-to-work transition; youth unattractiveness for credit institutions; lack of networks; and lack of voice representation are all additional burden showing the desperate need for the creation of new opportunities and hope.

It is therefore of fundamental importance that employment objectives are put to the fore and at the centre of socio-economic policies. The plight of youth employment in the labour market has not only received the attention of the ILO, obviously for its given mandate and authority in the areas of labour, employment, and the world of work, but also of policy-makers, enhanced by dissemination of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goal, in which youth employment has been included through the launching of the UN Youth Employment Network (YEN) – under the leadership of the UN, the World Bank and the ILO - strengthened by the two UN General Assembly Resolutions, the December 2002 Resolution on promoting youth employment (A/RES/57/165) and Resolution A/RES/58/133, of January 2004, concerning policies and programmes involving youth, which encourage countries to prepare National Action Plans on youth employment with the participation of young people. In Africa, the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government on Employment and Poverty Alleviation, held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 8-9 September 2004, gave a new impetus to youth employment, in the form of consciousness-raising and practical implementation of youth policies, within the framework of the Ouagadougou Declaration, Plan of Action and Follow-up Mechanism, which resulted from the Extraordinary Summit. The importance and urgency of addressing youth employment through relevant policies in general have also received recognition worldwide, as exemplified by other international initiatives: the Tripartite Meeting on Youth Employment: The way Forward, held on 13 - 15 October 2004, in Geneva; the XV Malente Symposium represented by the youth representatives of Lead YEN countries, in Luebeck, October, 2004; and the General Discussion on Youth Employment at the 93rd Session of the International Labour Conference in June 2005.

Against the above background, the ILO is providing technical support and advisory services to its constituents in developing and National Employment Policy Frameworks, encapsulating youth policies and National Youth Employment Action Plans within the framework of its Decent Work Agenda, which puts full and productive employment and decent work for all at the centre of economic and social policies, and its implementation through its Decent work Country Programmes. Decent work is now a global goal. It is a concept embracing human rights, employment, social protection, and social dialogue, that has captured attention around the world as a viable objective that can make a significant difference to people’s lives. It was endorsed at the 2005 World Summit of the United Nations General Assembly and this commitment was further elaborated at the High-Level Segment of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The entire UN System is now called upon to support countries in their efforts to give effect to their commitment to the Decent Work Agenda.

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