MORE than one in six young people have stopped working since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic while those who remain employed have seen their working hours cut by 23 per cent, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has said.
According to the ‘ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work; 4th Edition’, youth are being disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and the substantial and rapid increase in youth unemployment seen since February is affecting young women more than young men.
The pandemic is inflicting a triple shock on young people, the ILO said; adding, “not only is it destroying their employment, but it is also disrupting education and training, and placing major obstacles in the way of those seeking to enter the labour market or to move between jobs.”
It pointed out that at 13.6 per cent, the youth unemployment rate in 2019 was already higher than that any other group.
The ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, said: “There were around 267 million young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) worldwide. Those 15-24-year olds who were employed were also more likely to be in forms of work that leave them vulnerable, such as low paid occupations, informal sector work, or as migrant workers.
“The COVID-19 economic crisis is hitting young people – especially women – harder and faster than any other group. If we do not take significant and immediate action to improve their situation, the legacy of the virus could be with us for decades. If their talent and energy is side-lined by a lack of opportunity or skills, it will damage all our futures and make it much more difficult to re-build a better, post-COVID economy,”
The Monitor calls for urgent, large-scale and targeted policy responses to support youth, including broad-based employment/training guarantee programmes in developed countries, and employment-intensive programmes and guarantees in low- and middle-income economies.
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