Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: ILO Report
Source : The Hindu
GS II:  Policies and Developmental Studies; GS III: Indian Economy

 What is discussed under ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022 report?

1. What Is International Labour Organization (ILO)?
2. Important global findings of the report 
3. Important findings related to India
4. Key policy messages

Why in News?

International Labour Organization (ILO) has released a report on ‘Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people’. 

Key Facts

• 

  Global Employment Trends for Youth describes the global labour market scenario for young people demonstrating:

  1. where progress has been achieved or has not been made
  2. updates on global and regional youth labour market information
  3. thorough assessments of trends and concerns affecting young people in the labour market
• The 2022 edition analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on young people and their labor-market prospects during and after the recovery.
• India experienced significant working-hour and employment losses in 2020-2021, especially among youths.

What Is International Labour Organization (ILO)?

• • ILO is the only tripartite UN agency established in 1919 under the League of Nations.
    • Tripartism is a neo-corporatism economic system in which all standards, policies, and programmes require discussion and approval from the representatives of governments, employers, and workers.
  • Its headquarter is in Geneva, Switzerland.
  • It brings together governments, employers and workers of 187 member States, setting labour standards, developing policies and devising programmes to promote decent work for all women and men.
  • The key goals of ILO are to promote workers’ rights, stimulate good job opportunities, improve social protection, and foster discourse on workplace concerns.
  • ILO received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.

Important Global Findings of the Report

Youth employment

• • The COVID-19 epidemic has disproportionately impacted young people aged between 15 and 24 years in numerous ways.
  • Young people faced significant job losses, degradation in employment quality, and increased inactivity, as well as more barriers to joining the labour market or changing occupations.
  • Number of unemployed young population has decreased from 75 million in 2021 where 73 million in 2022, which is still 6 million more than the pre-covid-19 pandemic.
  • Young people’s labour market opportunities and outcomes diminished with time through ‘scarring effect’.
    • Scarring effect: Effects of youth unemployment over working life as more spells of unemployment, lower earnings prospects and lower chances of obtaining a decent job in the longer term.

Gender disparity

• • Global inequalities, both within and across countries, increased because of the heterogenous direct and long-term effects of the COVID-19 crisis on young people in different countries and with different socio-economic backgrounds.
  • Young women have suffered a greater employment impact as a result of the crisis than young men.
  • Globally, young women’s unemployment rate (27.4 %) was below the male rate (45.6) both before and throughout the crisis.

Green and blue economies

• • The transition to green and blue economies can help to create decent and productive jobs while
    contributing to environmental sustainability and poverty eradication.
    • Green economy:  Low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive economy.
    • Blue economy: sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem.
  • Through the adoption of green and blue policy initiatives, an additional 8.4 million employment for young people might be produced by 2030.

Important Findings Related to India

Youth employment

• • Despite an overall average increase in the labour environment, Indian youth employment declined in 2021 compared to 2020.
  • According to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy Surveys, the employment participation rate of young people aged 15-20 years fell by 0.9% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, while it grew by 2% for adults.

Gender disparity

• • Indian young women experienced larger relative employment losses than young men in 2021 and 2022.
  • Young Indian males account for 16% of young men in the global labour market, whereas young Indian women account for only 5%.
  • The report complimented the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for its contribution to paid employment, particularly for women, as well as carbon sequestration due to the Act’s emphasis on natural resources like as land, water, and trees.

School closures due to COVID-19

• • Due to the long shutdown of schools and other institutions, access to internet resources has become extremely uneven.
  • Children from low-income households, who make up the vast majority, have practically no access to online resources.
  • Only 8% of  240 million school-aged children in rural regions and 23% in urban areas had appropriate access to online education.
  • School closures resulted in ‘learning regression,’ – children forgetting what they had previously learned.
  • On average, 92% of children lost at least one core ability in language, while 82% of children lost at least one foundational ability in mathematics.
  • School closures also had a huge negative impact on nutrition and health.

Underpaid teachers

• • Teachers in private schools are paid one-eighth and one-half of what their counterparts in the public sector are paid.
  • Young, inexperienced, undertrained teachers who earn lower wages and have fewer benefits are more likely to lose motivation, which reduces the quality of their teaching.

Domestic workers

• • Young domestic workers are frequently migrants from rural areas.
  • Domestic work is a highly informal sector in India, with relatively low salaries.
  • Domestic workers are generally young women or girls because of their lower social status in Indian
    family and society.
  • Abuse of young domestic workers, including verbal and physical abuse and sexual exploitation, is prevalent.

Key policy messages

• • Ensuring that the labour market creates jobs for young people.
  • Investing to transform the economy, create new decent jobs and ensure the well-being of future generations.
  • Adopting supportive labour market policies and promoting skills development and entrepreneurship.
  • Training should be more learner-centred, offering a range of skills and various options for reskilling, upskilling and lifelong learning.
  • Youth programmes combining training, income support, counselling and intermediation can be more effective than such measures implemented in isolation.

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