Tackling Youth Unemployment Research Articles

Labor Market Reforms and Youth Unemployment

Purpose: The general purpose of the study was to examine labor market reforms and youth employment.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings reveal that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to labor market reforms and youth employment. The study illuminated the intricate relationship between labor market reforms and youth unemployment, revealing both opportunities and challenges in tackling this issue. Analyzing empirical evidence from various studies provided insights into the effectiveness of different reform measures across different contexts. While some reforms, such as flexibility promotion and investment in human capital, showed promise in enhancing youth employment, others had mixed results. Future research directions include exploring interactions between labor reforms and macroeconomic factors and conducting longitudinal studies. Overall, the study emphasized the importance of nuanced reform approaches for inclusive economic growth, requiring collaboration among stakeholders and ongoing research for evidence-based policymaking.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Dual Labor Market theory, Human Capital theory and the Institutional theory may be used to anchor future studies on labor market reforms and youth unemployment. The study provided a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the challenges identified. These recommendations included adopting a multifaceted approach to labor market reforms, prioritizing investments in education and skills development, and fostering collaboration between stakeholders. The study emphasized the importance of active labor market policies (ALMPs), continuous monitoring and evaluation of reforms, and addressing structural barriers to youth employment. Additionally, policymakers were urged to prioritize youth entrepreneurship, enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing, and promote inclusive decision-making processes. Overall, the study offered practical strategies for policymakers, contributed to theory by highlighting the importance of evidence-based policymaking and stakeholder engagement, and informed future policy efforts to tackle youth unemployment effectively.
 Keywords: Labor Market, Reforms, Youth, Unemployment, Employment Policies, Economic Policy, Labor Force Participation

A Study on Youth Unemployment in India: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses

Unemployment among young people in India is a significant socio-economic problem with wide-ranging implications. This study investigates the various factors, such as educational mismatches, economic transformations, and demographic pressures, that contribute to the high levels of unemployment among young people in India. Youth unemployment has significant ramifications, affecting the overall welfare of individuals, the stability of the economy, and the cohesion of society. The severe consequences include heightened dependency ratios, mental health disorders, and the possibility of social upheaval. The paper also examines other policy measures taken to alleviate teenage unemployment, including skill enhancement programmes, incentives for entrepreneurship, and active labour market regulations. The study seeks to analyse these interventions in order to uncover efficacious tactics and optimal approaches to tackle youth unemployment in India. It attempts to provide recommendations to policymakers for promoting a labour market that is more inclusive and dynamic.

Understanding the characteristics of work that foster workplace well-being in an apprenticeship programme and their effects on apprentices' employability. Exploring the gender moderation effect

PurposeThis study seeks to show whether workplace experience (WE) in an apprenticeship programme affects the duration of joblessness amongst recent university graduates and to determine the antecedents that support a workplace well-being experience during an apprenticeship programme. Additionally, the research introduces the moderating effect of gender in order better to understand under what circumstances apprenticeship reduces the time taken to find employment.Design/methodology/approachThe research proposes PLS equation modelling constructed with a sample of 129 students from the Business Administration and Management degree at Mondragon University.FindingsThe research finds that social support and job demand are key features of work that should be addressed to ensure a workplace well-being experience in an apprenticeship programme. In addition, a workplace well-being experience during apprenticeship reduced the time taken by students to access their first job. This means that job training in a company helps students get their first job, but it is not the primary factor. The study also shows that men who had workplace well-being experience in an apprenticeship programme take less time to find their first job.Originality/valueThe study proposes an exclusive analysis of apprenticeship programmes in higher education systems from the perspective of workplace well-being experience, based on the DCS model. This research also adds to the literature on apprenticeship by providing evidence that a positive experience of work during an apprenticeship programme facilitates undergraduate students in securing employment. Furthermore, this paper confirms that workplace well-being experiences in apprenticeship programmes constitute a valid tool for tackling youth unemployment, and finds that it is more efficient amongst males than females.

Bridging the labour market skills gap to tackle youth unemployment in South Africa

AbstractSouth Africa has one of the world’s highest youth unemployment rates despite a high demand for skilled labour, because employability remains severely hampered by a persistent vertical skills mismatch. The flagship upskilling programme deployed by the government to enhance job readiness and enterprise development capabilities among rural youth has, however, shown mixed results. The slow uptakes of alumni calls into question the adequacy of the programme’s skills composition in resolving the labour market mismatch. Using the Outcome Mapping approach and probit estimation on self-reported skills improvements among programme participants, this study finds perceived improvements in non-technical skills to be associated with a higher likelihood of success in comparison to technical skills, both in securing a stable job and in launching a viable enterprise after completion of the programme. These findings confirm the growing importance of ‘soft skills’ in bolstering employability when jobs are scarce. They suggest the need for a stronger emphasis on this set of skills in upskilling programmes aimed to address unemployment challenges.

Entrepreneurship: A Panacea to Youth Unemployment Challenge

As the problem of youth unemployment persists, especially among developing economies like Nigeria, the need for a workable solution to this problem is continually being sought. Among possible alternative solutions to the problem is entrepreneurship. This paper, espousing entrepreneurship as a key to tackling youth unemployment, presented supporting views to this line of thought. Using descriptive approach, the paper highlighted the situation of youth unemployment in Nigeria, the challenges of the business environment, reliance on entrepreneurship and the way out.

Challenging scalar fallacy in state‐wide welfare studies: AUKsub‐state comparison of civil society approaches to addressing youth unemployment

AbstractHere we make an original, empirical contribution to debates on welfare pluralism, the mixed economies of welfare and territorial rescaling by comparing civil society approaches to tackling youth unemployment in England, Scotland and Wales. Our core finding is that academic and policy literature's frequent characterisation of the UK as a single Liberal welfare regime is based on methodological nationalism privileging state‐wide analyses. In short, a scalar fallacy pervasive in international welfare studies. In the context of the global rise of meso‐government and so‐called ‘stateless nations’ pressing for greater autonomy, our case‐study challenges the dominant paradigm. Our analysis shows the liberal characteristics of work‐first policy orientation and marketised civil society are concentrated in England then tempered by devolved (social) policy. Based on contrasting, left‐of‐centre and civic nationalist governing traditions, grounded in multi‐level electoral politics, we show the devolved nations taking a different approach to Westminster, partially eschewing the market and incorporating collectivism and co‐production.

Social Entrepeneurship and TVET: Tackling Youth Unemployment

In the government's efforts to improve the living standards of the people, education and entrepreneurship are the best tools in the economic problems of a society by providing them with extensive knowledge and skills. The main objective of this paper is to look at the relationship between social entrepreneurship and, technical and vocational education and training system (TVET) in solving the unemployment issue faced by youth today. Meanwhile, the research methods used are secondary data sources and documents obtained from online databases and library collections. In conclusion, through the relationship between social entrepreneurship and TVET, the problem of unemployment can be reduced in society in Malaysia

Social Entrepreneurship and TVET: Tackling Youth Unemployment

Social Entrepreneurship and TVET: Tackling Youth Unemployment

Youth employment in Ghana: economic and social development policies perspective

PurposeCreating employment opportunities for the youth remains a dilemma for policymakers. In many cases, policies and programmes to tackle youth unemployment have produced little results, because such initiatives have failed to consider some fundamental inputs. In Ghana, youth unemployment rate has doubled or more than doubled the national average unemployment rate in recent years. The current study, therefore, examines how policies in the past two decades have affected youth unemployment rate and other development outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviewed national economic development policy documents from 1996 to 2017 and other relevant policies aimed at creating employment opportunities for the youth, applying the content analysis procedure. Four main policy documents were reviewed in this regard. Data from secondary sources including International Labour Organisation (ILO), World Bank (WB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) were analysed to examine the trends in youth unemployment rate, human development index and GDP growth rate in Ghana over the years. There were also formal and informal consultations with youth and development practitioners.FindingsThe results of the study show that policies that promote general growth in the economy reduce youth unemployment, while continuation of existing youth programmes, expansion, as well as addition of new ones by new governments reduces youth unemployment rate. In particular, GDP growth and youth unemployment rate trend in opposite direction; periods of increased growth have reduced youth unemployment rate and vice versa. The period of Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda I & II witnessed better reduction (5.7%) in youth unemployment rate than any of the policy periods. This was not sustained, and despite the current youth employment initiatives, unemployment among young people still remained higher than the national average.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides relevant information on how development policies and programmes affect youth unemployment rate over time. In as much as it is not the interest of the study, the study stops short of empirical estimation to determine the level of GDP growth rate that can reduce a particular level of youth unemployment, which is a case for further research. Nevertheless, the outcome of the study reflects the data and methodology used.Originality/valueTo the best of the knowledge of the authors, this is a first study in Ghana that has attempted to directly link development outcomes such as youth unemployment to national economic development policies, although there are studies that have analysed the policy gaps and implementation challenges. This paper, therefore, bridges the knowledge of how development policies affect youth employment opportunities, particularly for Ghana.

YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO 24 YEARS ON THE LABOUR MARKET IN A SMALL SLOVAK TOWN

Social pedagogy offers a wide multidisciplinary range to prevent and tackle youth unemployment. In this paper, we want to broaden the knowledge for social pedagogues in the areas of young people in the labour market and youth unemployment. The aim of the research is to identify the experience of respondents in the labour market in the district of Ruzomberok. It is a district in Slovakia far from the capital and regional centres. Most of the district´s inhabitants live in villages, fewer inhabitants in a town of Ružomberok. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 100 respondents. There are 50 young people up to 24 years old, who are currently active in the labour market. Furthermore, there are persons unemployed, registered at the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Ružomberok, with an age limit of up to 24 years, representing the same number of 50 respondents. We explored the social context; we set two hypotheses: There is a statistically significant difference in the status of the labour market with respect to the respondents' residence. There is a statistically significant difference in the status of the labour market relative to the gender of respondents. To verify the hypotheses, we used the Chi-Square-2 variable test. The hypotheses were not confirmed.

Tackling Youth Unemployment: Evidence From a Labor Market Experiment in Uganda

We design a labor market experiment to compare demand‐ and supply‐side policies to tackle youth unemployment, a key issue in low‐income countries. The experiment tracks 1700 workers and 1500 firms over four years to compare the effect of offering workers either vocational training (VT) or firm‐provided training (FT) for six months in a common setting where youth unemployment is above 60%. Relative to control workers, we find that, averaged over three post‐intervention years, FT and VT workers: (i) enjoy large and similar upticks in sector‐specific skills, (ii) significantly improve their employment rates, and (iii) experience marked improvements in an index of labor market outcomes. These averages, however, mask differences in dynamics: FT gains materialize quickly but fade over time, while VT gains emerge slowly but are long‐lasting, leading VT worker employment and earning profiles to rise above those of FT workers. Estimating a job ladder model of worker search reveals the key reason for this: VT workers receive significantly higher rates of job offers when unemployed, thus hastening their movement back into work. This likely stems from the fact that the skills of VT workers are certified and therefore can be demonstrated to potential employers. Tackling youth unemployment by skilling youth using vocational training pre‐labor market entry therefore appears to be more effective than incentivizing firms through wage subsidies to hire and train young labor market entrants.

Fear-of-failure and cultural persistence in youth entrepreneurship

This paper explores the sensitivity of youth’s fear of failure to local culture, in terms of its persistence across space and its change (hysteresis) in times of economic shocks, which renders entrepreneurship a very dubious tool for tackling youth unemployment especially in times of crisis. We focus on youth in Germany and Greece which are culturally and economically very different countries. Data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) provides a pooled cross-section for the period 2003–2010. We address the data using a probit model with year fixed effects. Regarding the influence of personal fear-of-failure, we find that youth between 15 and 24 years of age are less entrepreneurial in both Greece and Germany, while the 25–34 years old young adults in Greece are already at the same entrepreneurial level as an average adult. Our findings also support existing gender differentials in both countries, which generally phase out among young people. Yet, country differences in perceptions have the greatest impact on entrepreneurial propensity. Regarding the local cultural characteristics, there is evidence of cultural embeddedness and cultural persistence effects especially among youth between 15 and 24 years of age which makes entrepreneurship an unsuitable tool for handling youth unemployment for this age group.

Understanding massive youth unemployment during the EU sovereign debt crisis: a configurational study

After the economic downturn of 2008, youth unemployment rose rapidly in the EU. Simultaneously, many countries were also facing increasing public deficits. In this context, the EU developed a set of policies to tackle youth unemployment and public debt. While policies to fight unemployment were underpinned by the concept of social investment, austerity was seen as the best way to reduce public debt. These different approaches to the crisis led to a growing tension between the two policy areas. This problem was particularly visible in the countries most affected by the sovereign debt crisis where youth unemployment remained very high for a long period of time. Not only were countries with high public debt and low growth unable to invest sufficiently in active labour market policies (ALMPs), but also, at the same time, austerity policies depressed the economic activity. This study uses the fsQCA methodology. Our results point to the existence of one necessary condition for high youth unemployment—low expenditure on ALMPs. The analysis of sufficient conditions points to the existence of one configuration: the countries most affected by the sovereign debt crisis and characterized by having a demand-led growth model, combined a low GDP growth with a low expenditure on ALMPs. Together, this led to high levels of youth unemployment.

How digital skills can help tackle youth unemployment

Some 66.6 million young women and men are unemployed and 144.9 million young workers are employed but living in poverty, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). On the other hand, research by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) points out that there will be tens of millions of jobs available for people with advanced digital skills in the coming years.

Guide to the Life Chances Fund

Advice on how to bid for slice of £80m of social finance to fund projects tackling youth unemployment

Employability, knowledge and the creative arts: reflections from an ethnographic study of NEET young people on an entry to employment programme

This paper draws on research into the experiences of young people classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training) on an employability programme in the north of England, and uses Basil Bernstein’s work on pedagogic discourses to explore how the creative arts can be used to re-engage them in work-related learning. Whilst creating demand for young people’s labour is central to tackling youth unemployment, the paper contends that using the arts can go some way towards breaking down barriers to learning experienced by many marginalised young people, and argues that creative activities can be used to introduce them to forms of knowledge which have been largely flushed out of vocational education – at least for many working-class learners. The paper presents ethnographic data which suggests that skilful, well-informed tutors can, at least in some circumstances, use the creative arts to provide young people with access to forms of learning which transcend official discourses of employability, and introduce marginalised youth to forms of learning rooted in what Bernstein described as ‘powerful knowledge’.

Nurturing Youth Entrepreneurship to Tackle Youth Unemployment: A Case Study of Kerala

Reducing Youth Unemployment is going to be one of the most important goals of nations in the coming decade. The International Labour Organization estimates that out of the 1 billion youth, 201 million are unemployed. The UN has adopted reducing unemployment as Goal number 8 in the Millennium Development Programme. Though the benefits of entrepreneurship in creating wealth and job opportunities are well known, the study on youth entrepreneurship is relatively recent. Youth are bracketed under the adult population, but youth unemployment is generally 2-3 times higher than the general unemployment rate. The purpose of the study is to examine the case of youth employment and its impact on a country’s economy and evolve youth entrepreneurship as a viable solution to tackle the problem. In order to accomplish the objective of the study, review of relevant international and national literature has been involved to draw major conclusions and form a concrete proposal. Youth face specific constraints in business start ups due to their limited experience. The study takes a closer look at the financial, procedural and cultural factors that affect youth entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial framework of a country also offers incentive to young entrepreneurs. By proposing a viable model for the unique case of Kerala, the study brings out that youth entrepreneurship as a viable option to reduce youth unemployment.

Young people and UK labour market policy: A critique of ‘employability’ as a tool for understanding youth unemployment

This paper presents a critical analysis of the contemporary policy focus on promoting employability among young people in the UK. Drawing on analysis of UK policy approaches to tackling youth unemployment since the late 1970s, we suggest that existing critiques of employability as ‘supply-side orthodoxy’ fail to capture fully its evolving meaning and function. Under the UK Coalition Government, it became increasingly colonised as a targeted tool of urban governance to legitimise ever more punitive forms of conditional welfare. We argue that this colonisation undermines the value of the notion of employability as an academic tool for understanding the reasons why young people face difficulties in entering the labour market. The paper suggests that the notion of youth transitions offers more potential for understanding youth unemployment, and that more clearly linking this body of research to policy could provide a fruitful avenue for future research. Such a shift requires a longer term, spatially informed perspective as well as greater emphasis on the changing power relations that mediate young people’s experiences of wider social and economic transformations. The paper concludes that promoting employment among urban young people requires a marked shift to address the historically and geographically inadequate knowledge and assumptions on which policies are based.

Policy Recommendations for Korea’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) Assistance to Tackle Youth Unemployment in Developing Countries

There are 1.2 billion youths (population aged between 15 and 24 years old) in the world, constituting 17 percent of the world’s population. With the increase in youth unemployment around the world, many countries have turned to Vocational Education and Training (VET) as a possible policy solution, both domestically and as part of their development assistance strategy. Unfortunately, the VET systems in many developing countries have critical problems such as the lack of funding, low quality of the training programs, and lack of coordination between different government ministries. During the past few decades, the Republic of Korea (henceforth “Korea”) has supported numerous VET projects in developing countries. However, there are several problems with Korea’s VET assistance policies. This paper examines four policy options: 1) status-quo, 2) ALMP, 3) Career guidance, and 4) training in informal sector to improve the effectiveness of Korea’s VET assistance in addressing youth unemployment.

Education Mismatch, Human Capital and Labour Status of Young People Across European Union Countries

This paper analyses the influence of country-level education mismatch on the individual-level relationship between education and the probability of being unemployed or staying in alternative labour statuses. Young people aged 15–34 in 2006, 2008 and 2010, and living in 21 EU countries are considered. We assume that these young people may fall in five labour market statuses: 1) Employee; 2) Self-employed; 3) Unemployed; 4) In Education; 5) Inactive, and perform a multinomial logit model to study the effects of years of education on relative probability of being in labour statuses 2, 3, 4, or 5, compared to the base category (Employee). Afterwards, we interact the individual-level years of education with a country-level indicator of education mismatch in order to identify the heterogeneous effects of the aggregate mismatch among people with different educational attainments. Results show that more years of education: i) reduce the relative probability of being unemployed; ii) have a cumulative effect by extending the period of education; iii) slightly raise the relative probability to be self-employed. As regards country-level education mismatch, we found that only after 2008 it produces an additional effect on better educated young people by further reducing their relative unemployment risk when it is compared to that of low educated youngsters. This outcome tells us that improving access to university degrees remains the main road to tackle youth unemployment caused by education mismatch, even after the outburst of the current financial and economic crisis.