The Problem and Reasons for Youth Unemployment - Essay Example

It is no doubt that youths form an integral part of any society. Often, they are the majority group in society and they are therefore heavily relied upon for economic, social, and political processes and activities (Roche and Tucker, 1997, p. 11). However, despite being the majority group they are often marginalized and sidelined from mainstream policymaking and implementation process. As a result, youths in many societies across the world have not realized their full potential and are unable to actively participate in shaping the destiny of their societies and their destiny. According to MacDonald (2011, p. 427), a large section of the youths is not engaged in gainful employment or mainstream income-generating activities. This situation has largely been attributed to lack or inappropriate youth policies in many countries, as well as poor implementation of youth policies. It is against this background that it is critical to have a closer look at the existing and past youth policies. More importantly, it is crucial to explore topics that relate to youth and policy and ultimately come up with sound and practical solutions to the challenges bedeviling youths of particular countries and the world at large (Chambers and Lake, 2002, p. 5). To create a better understanding of the youth and policy, this paper will discuss the topic of youth employment. Particularly, it will explore the employment of youth and the policies surrounding employment, as well as entrepreneurship as a form of youth employment. Several studies have shown that one of the main challenges facing the world is youth unemployment. That is why reducing youth unemployment is one of the primary concerns of most governments in the world (Chigunta, 2002, p. 18). The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that about 90 million young people across the world are unemployed; this accounts for about 50 percent of 186 million unemployed people in the world (Oliver and Pitt, 2011). A recent study conducted by the ILO found out that youth are three and half times more likely to be unemployed than adults. The study also approximated that about 660 million young people will be looking for work or working in 2015, this is a 7.5 percent increase over the 2003 figure (ILO, 2005). Undoubtedly, these figures demonstrate the need for employment creation that focuses on youth. Chambers and Lake (2002, p. 7) note that participation of young people in the labor market is widely considered as a means of improving their social and economic transition to independent living and as a positive indicator of long-term employment prospects. However, the fact that transition of many young people from formal education to the labor market is often not straightforward is undeniable. This transition tends to be complicated, fractured, delayed, and in some cases protracted. Over the decades, education has proved to represent the best and realistic hope for young people who are seeking to break out of the social reproduction cycles that transmit economic inequalities across generations (Oliver and Pitt, 2011, p. 25). This explains why there has been overt commitment by most countries to ensure equal educational opportunities. That notwithstanding, it is clear that such efforts sometimes fail to realize their objectives, particularly among certain minority ethnic communities and working-class whose young people continue to under-achieve academically. In other cases, young people are formally excluded on the grounds of indiscipline or other problematic behaviors. Whereas education is considered as the most appropriate option of addressing the challenge of youth unemployment, the education system of many countries remains a major impediment to this option (Roche and Tucker, 1997, p. 16). The education systems of many countries are not aligned to the economy because schools and institutions of higher learning are not enslaved to the market needs. Greene (2002, p. 315) observes that in some cases there is a discrepancy between what is taught in school and what is needed in the job market. Youth unemployment correlates with social exclusion and its subsequent effects on the larger society. Many governments in the world have realized this and have developed a diverse policy response to avert this potential crisis. China (2002, p. 63) says that these governments have offered subsidies and incentives to companies that employ the youth; developed programs of socially useful work; created initiatives that are based on guarantees of employment, training, or education; extended provision of pre-vocational educations and apprenticeships; relaxed employment conditions requirements such as minimum wage requirements; and extending vocational education. In a bid to address the challenge of youth unemployment, some governments have accompanied youth employment activation initiatives and programs with social protection benefits (MacDonald, 2011, p. 429). In light of the challenge of youth unemployment, some governments have responded well with practical and workable initiatives. Some of the youth employment policies have combined the supply and demand-side approaches (Tyler et al, 2009, p. 23). However, it should be noted that in recent years the traditional notions of employment have been challenged and therefore it is important that the subject of youth unemployment be re-conceptualized. The profound social and economic changes experienced in recent decades have disrupted the planned careers and job security assumptions (Greene, 2002, p. 318). Concepts such as flexibility, life-long learning, and re-skilling have replaced the old orthodoxies and beliefs concerning the labor market. Therefore, the formulation of youth employment policies should take into account these dynamics to ensure that the programs and initiatives yield the intended outcome of reducing youth unemployment. Youth employment policies should consider the opportunities and challenges that are created by a flexible, mobile, and young workforce of modern times (Shutt and Sutherland, 2003, p. 97). Globalization and technology particularly internet technologies create more employment opportunities for the youth and enhance their flexibility, mobility, and life-long learning in the labor market. Besides, they create more employment activities; more jobs are done online and payments made electronically. As such, young people can work from any part of the world and earn income regardless of the geographical distance between the worker and the employer (Chambers and Lake, 2002, p. 6). Increased mobility and flexibility of the young people in the labor market presents the challenge of gaining access to social and health care, securing affordable and decent accommodation. The youth of countries with low internet connectivity and the high cost of computers may not enjoy the employment opportunities brought about by internet technology (MacDonald, 2011, p. 430). Also, the young migrant workers may face discrimination from the host community in the new country of residence. Apart from the work-related challenges brought about by increased mobility and flexibility of young people in the labor market, there is also a challenge of social stability at their country of origin. There is a question of brain-drain, as well as the question of who will support the aging population in the country of origin of the young workers (Oliver and Pitt, 2011, p. 50). Such issues and stark questions call for broadly-formulated youth policies that will ensure that more employment opportunities are created for young people and challenges arising from the same are addressed adequately. Social and political policies should provide the framework within which strategies of employment are developed and implemented. Developments of employment strategies should involve the youth and should recognize that such a strategy depends on the support of the youth (Roche and Tucker, 1997, p. 38). The strategies should target young people within the framework of specific areas such as professional life, employment, research development and investment in human capital. Any youth employment strategy should ensure that the approaches proposed help in giving young people the first chance in life and equip them with skills that are necessary for their entire lives. Towards this end, there should be tailored employment measures, as well as an enhanced focus on young people in structural policies that aim at reducing generational inequalities (Tyler et al, 2009, p. 36). More importantly, youth employment policies should not be confined solely to the training and education domains, but also to health, diversity, gender equality, well-being, social inclusion, and active participation of the young people. Employment policy should be integrated into every ministry to ensure that nearly all, if not all, government programs provide room for the creation of employment opportunities for the youth (Greene, 2002, p. 320). It is important to emphasize that youth employment policy should fall into the full range of policy domains: health and well-being; creativity and culture; voluntary activities; education and training; employment and entrepreneurship; and participation. There is a consensus among all stakeholders in the formulation of youth policy that there is a need to widen the youth employment parameters to include these broad issues and emerging issues as well (Chigunta, 2002, p. 66). The youth employment policy would have to be formulated taking into consideration the political, micro and macroeconomic, social, and financial policies with both short and long term perspectives. Initiative and political will at all government levels, as well as the private sector, and Non-Governmental Organizations can go a long way in providing the much-needed impetus for increased employment rate (ILO, 2005). While youth employment policy should originate at the national level, policy initiatives and directives should be driven down to local and regional levels. Formulation of youth policies would need to take into account the policies and outlook of international organizations about youth and align these policies and outlook with the national policy as far as possible (Chambers and Lake, 2002, p. 8). Also, drawing of national youth employment policy should keep in line with ILO’s policy guidelines about youth employment and entrepreneurship. This will help national policies to aim at increasing the youth capability and providing direction for the growth of youth prospects (MacDonald, 2011, p. 434). More importantly, youth employment policy should be unique for every nation because its socio-economic framework and society are not the same in each case. The socio-economic framework of a given society should determine the nature of the policy that a country should adopt and implement (Shutt and Sutherland, 2003, p. 99). Each society has unique characteristics and features, and so do the youth of a particular society. Therefore, besides the economic factors, those who are formulating youth employment policy must take into consideration policy measures that apply to the present and long term challenges and circumstances of the youth of a given society (Oliver and Pitt, 2011, p. 42). It can thus be said that the process of formulating youth employment policy calls for a better understanding of the current dynamics, as well as the emerging scenarios in the society in areas such as education, industry, and economy. A better understanding of problems facing the youth in particular sections of society and futuristic trends and developing appropriate interventions of addressing them is key to the formulation and implementation of futuristic and comprehensive youth employment policy (Greene, 2002, p. 321). Along with the already outlined approaches to youth employment policy, entrepreneurship is considered a fundamental aspect of employment growth. Entrepreneurship is increasingly accepted as a valuable additional strategy and an important means to improve livelihoods, enhance economic independence, and create jobs for young people within the framework of potential strategies and efforts to boost job creation and employment for the youth. Chambers and Lake (2002, p. 10) argue that entrepreneurship is an innovative approach to the integration of young people into modern times’ highly dynamic labor markets. While the important role that entrepreneurship plays in job creation and driving economic development is understood and appreciated, little efforts have been made to focus on it from the perspectives of the young people (Tyler et al, 2009, p. 59). The youth are often treated as part of the adult population, but their particular entrepreneurial potential, specific needs and their important contribution to social and economic progress are not addressed comprehensively and are underestimated. The problem is further complicated by the fact that there is a general lack of concrete and in-depth research on youth entrepreneurship, particularly (Chigunta, 2002, p. 75). As a result, there is minimal information relating to youth entrepreneurship including the establishment of new firms and diverse entrepreneurial framework conditions. To address the challenge of youth unemployment, there is a need for integration of youth entrepreneurship policy should be integrated into youth employment policy. Greene (2002, p. 326) states that youth entrepreneurship policy measures should be taken to promote entrepreneurial activity among the youth by aiming at the entrepreneurship education and fast-tracking entrepreneurship process. Besides, youth entrepreneurship policy should be designed and delivered in such a way that it addresses the areas of skills, opportunity, and motivation. The main objective of youth entrepreneurship policy should be to encourage more young people to commence an entrepreneurial venture while at the same time improve the general employability of the youth (MacDonald, 2011, p. 437). Entrepreneurship training and education, as well as a practice, not only ensure that the young people earn income, but also improve their employability in the dynamic labor market. Entrepreneurship provides youth with entrepreneurial attitudes and skills which are critical in coping with a shift towards “portfolio careers” from traditional “job-for-life” (Shutt and Sutherland, 2003, p. 102) The main reason why youth entrepreneurship policy is increasingly acknowledged as a valuable additional strategy and important means to address the challenge of youth unemployment is that it is horizontal and therefore cuts across many of the other policy areas (Tyler et al, 2009, p. 37). The objective of youth entrepreneurship is to promote the creation of employment, as well as contributing to economic growth and development. This policy should be embedded in the wider national youth employment policy to spur job creation and address the challenge of youth unemployment. To ensure that youth entrepreneurship becomes an important instrument of tackling the challenge of youth unemployment, it must be embedded across various government agencies and ministries. However, such a policy should be coordinated by a special ministry or department that is located at the cabinet-level t to coordinate the formulation and implementation process. While that special ministry or department should lead on policy development and implementation, it should work closely with other levels of government, as well as major stakeholders such as the local and international organizations concerned with the youths (Oliver and Pitt, 2011, p. 54). The important role of youth entrepreneurship in job creation and stimulating economic growth and development in any given society cannot be overemphasized. However, for desirable outcomes to be realized, youth entrepreneurship policy development and delivery should follow some guidelines. One of the fundamental guidelines is that each country should develop a tailor-made and individual policy approach that fits its unique features and trends (MacDonald, 2011, p. 440). The policy should be a mix of integrated initiatives which is in tandem to different cultural, social, and economic situations and specific entrepreneurial framework conditions as well. Secondly, the fostering of entrepreneurship education should be at the center of any youth entrepreneurship policy. Therefore, the government must identify and address deficiencies in this area (Greene, 2002, p. 328). Thirdly, youth entrepreneurship policy should include provisions for investment in testing, benchmarking, evaluation, and research. Fourthly, such a policy should involve engagement and mobilization of all major stakeholders including the Non-Governmental Organizations, private foundations, international organizations, private sector, and the public sector or government. More importantly, youth entrepreneurship policy interventions should balance speed with implementation cost and scale of impact (Chambers and Lake, 2002, p. 11). This is because the manifold tools ad interventions to promote youth entrepreneurship highly differ concerning their potential impact and their cost-benefit ratio. Various studies have found out that the promotion of youth entrepreneurship policy offers strong potential to the youth and also to any society that fosters (Chigunta, 2002, p. 37). In recent years, business creation and entrepreneurship have become a growing alternative for the youth most of whom are faced with a labor market that is recording double-digit rates of unemployment. In the wake of rapid technological advancements and globalization, traditional career opportunities and paths are rapidly disappearing and unemployment increasing (Shutt and Sutherland, 2003, p. 103). As a result, an increasing number of young people are taking up the challenge of unemployment by creating their own business. It has the potential of increasing employment opportunities for the youth and providing them with a source of income. Also, it has the potential of stimulating economic growth and development thereby creating a sustainable economic and social environment in which the entire society can enjoy prosperity and stability. It also offers strong possibilities for public-private collaboration and partnerships (MacDonald, 2011, p. 443). As such, international organizations should continue focusing on innovative schemes and programs, innovative pilot projects, the development and expanding of international linkages, networks, and partnerships between the major stakeholders, benchmark and research activities for identifying best practices. Since realizing success in business can prove to be difficult, all stakeholders must work towards creating a supportive environment for youth entrepreneurship (Greene, 2002, p. 331). In conclusion, it is clear from the discussion that youth employment is one of the topics that greatly relate to youth and policy. Recent years have witnessed increased rates of unemployment across the world. This situation has been attributed to factors such as increased cost of production; technological advancement that has led to the disappearing of traditional career opportunities and paths; and an increase in population among other factors. Young people have been the worst hit by the high unemployment rates and the ILO estimates that the situation may worsen in the coming years. Reducing youth unemployment is considered as one of the main global challenges for years to come. It is in the light of this realization that all major stakeholders including national governments, international organizations, and Non-Governmental Organizations have enhanced their efforts towards reducing unemployment. While the challenge of reducing youth unemployment is huge, it is by no means insurmountable. several countries have proved that with appropriate policies and effective implementation, the world can overcome the challenge of youth unemployment. Therefore, all major stakeholders must formulate appropriate and relevant policies and ensure the effective and efficient implementation of such policies. As has been noted, youth entrepreneurship is the most important tool for the creation of jobs and to reduce youth unemployment. It is therefore critical that entrepreneurship potential of the youths be harnessed through a well-formulated youth entrepreneurship policy. References Chambers, R and Lake, A 2002, Youth Business International: Bridging the Gap between Unemployment and Self-employment for Disadvantaged Youth. Skills Working Paper No. 3, InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability, ILO, Geneva. Chigunta, F 2002, Youth Entrepreneurship: Meeting the Key Challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Greene, J 2002, “An Investigation into Enterprise Support for Younger People, 1975-2000”, International Small Business Journal, 20: 3, 315-336 ILO, 2005, “Youth: Pathways to Decent Work”. Report VI Promoting Youth Employment-Tackling the Challenge, ILC, 93rd Session. MacDonald, R 2011, 'Youth transitions, unemployment and underemployment,’ Journal of Sociology, 47, 4, pp. 427-444, Oliver, B and Pitt, B, 2011, Working with Children, Young People and Families, Exeter: Learning Matters. 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