Unemployed youngsters may hit 73M globally this year – group
Young workers are utmost casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic compared to older workers, according to labor rights group International Labour Organization (ILO).
This came out on the recent ILO report on "Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people," released by the group in time for the celebration of the International Youth Day on Friday, August 12.
The report revealed huge lagging on youth employment, making the youngsters severely affected in terms of unemployment.
"The pandemic has exacerbated the numerous labor market challenges facing those aged between 15 and 24 years who have experienced a much higher percentage loss in employment than adults since early 2020," the report said.
According to ILO, the number of unemployed youths is estimated to reach 73 million globally this year, though it was a slight improvement from 75 million 2021 but still six million above the pre-pandemic level in 2019.
"This group of young people are at particular risk of seeing their labour market opportunities and outcomes deteriorate also over the longer-term as 'scarring' effects take hold," the group echoed.
Based on details, the group also noticed that young women are worse off than young men, exhibiting a much lower employment-to-population ratio (EPR).
"In 2022, 27.4 percent of young women globally are projected to be in employment, compared to 40.3 percent of young men. This means that young men are almost 1.5 times more likely than young women to be employed," group added.
ILO also observed that the gender gap, which has shown little sign of closing over the past two decades, is largest in lower to middle-income countries at 17.3 percentage points, and smallest in high-income countries at 2.3 percentage points.
The group expressed belief that recoveries in youth unemployment is projected to diverge between low and middle-income countries on the one hand and high-income countries on the other.
In Asia including the Philippines, and in Pacific regions, unemployment rate of young people is projected to reach 14.9 percent in 2022, the same as the global average, although the group said there are divergences between sub-regions and countries. (Jun Marcos Tadios)