Youth is the time of life full of promise, aspiration and energy. Between childhood and adulthood, youth is when men and women are most eager to strike out to secure their futures and to contribute to their families, communities and societies. This stage of life is crucial in determining young peoples’ paths to achieving productive employment and decent work .
One billion young people will reach working age within the next decade . Providing them with the opportunity to secure productive employment and decent work is a societal, national and global challenge. It is no wonder that youth employment is listed high on the international community’s agenda . This is the best educated and best trained generation of young men
and especially young women ever. They possess skills that can make communities flourish and nations strengthen and seek opportunities for personal autonomy and active citizenship. We are getting more children to school but we are failing to get them into productive employment and decent work.
While rapid globalization and technological change may offer new opportunities for productive work and incomes for some, for many working age young people the lack of decent job prospects increases their vulnerability in the transition from childhood to adulthood. The investment of governments in education and training will be lost if young people do not move into productive jobs that enable them to support themselves, contribute to their families’ earnings, and pay their public dues. However, on average, young women and men are two to three times more likely to be unemployed than adults, and this is particularly pronounced for young women . All too often, they work unacceptably long hours under informal, intermittent and insecure work arrangements, characterized by low productivity, meager earnings and reduced labour protection.
TWOST
teaching without stereotypes
