Facts and figures Niall OHiggins (YEP, ILO) Sarah Akwei-Marfo - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Rising to the youth employment challenge(s) in Africa: Facts and figures

Future of Work for African Youth, February 7th 2019, Geneva

Niall O’Higgins (YEP, ILO) Sarah Akwei-Marfo (GIDJY, ILO)

Today

• 1. Nature and dimensions of the youth

employment challenge in Africa: Some facts and figures

• 2. What do these actually mean?

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

1) What are the main features of youth labour markets in Africa today?

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

The youth labour force in Africa is rapidly growing

Source: ILO Labour Force Estimates and Projections, July 2015.

61.5 82.1 103.6 121.4 168.5

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

Millions

Africa Americas Arab States Asia and the Pacific Europe and Central Asia

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Youth unemployment rates are high, especially in Northern Africa

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

27.7 26.9 25.3 25.7 25.1 26.1 27.2 30.7 30.1 29.6 30.7 29.5 29.3 29.2 29.2 12.9 12.7 12.6 12.3 12.3 12.2 11.7 11.3 11.1 10.8 10.9 11.5 11.5 11.6 11.6 12.4 12.1 11.6 12.1 12.7 12.3 12.3 12.4 12.3 12.1 12.4 12.6 12.6 12.5 12.5 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Northern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa World

But rather more young people are neither in employment, education or training (NEET)

36.0 16.7 19.0 11.2 16.0 8.0 41.8 9.6 14.9 11.3 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Northern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Developing Emerging Developed Percentage (%)

Youth NEET rates tend to be particularly high in Africa, compared to other regions

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Although they vary much across countries

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

But young women (almost) always have higher NEET rates than young men

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

The vast majority of African young people who do find jobs still remain in extreme or moderate poverty

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Youth Adult Youth Adult Youth Adult Northern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Emerging and developing economies Percentage (%) Extreme poverty Moderate poverty

And, 95% of young workers in Africa who have jobs work in the informal economy

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Africa Americas Arab States Asia and the Pacific Europe and Central Asia World Youth Adult

Vulnerable employment is, however, falling (slowly)

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

31.2 31.7 2.9 2.7 65.9 65.6 17.0 21.7 0.8 1.8 82.2 76.5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2005 2015 2005 2015 2005 2015 2005 2015 2005 2015 2005 2015 Employee Employer Vulnerable employment Employee Employer Vulnerable employment Male Female Percentage (%)

But, the increase in wage employment is mainly accounted for by increases in informal and/or temporary jobs

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

• 20
• 15
• 10
• 5

5 10 15 20 Egypt South Africa Zambia Tanzania Percentage point change in age-specific employment Permanent employee Temporary employee Employee without contract OAW Contributing family worker

Agriculture remains the main employer of youth; non- agricultural jobs for youth are growing (too) slowly

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

2) What does this actually mean?

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Clearly there are some major challenges

The youth labour force in Africa has more than doubled from 61.5 million in 1990 to 124.5 million in 2018.

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Clearly there are some major challenges

15.7 .7

million youth are unemployed

62.1 million youth are working but poor 95%

are in informal employment Over 60% of NEETs are young women

• f young

workers

The Youth labour force doubled in size in Africa between 1990 and 2018 and, between now and 2030 will increase by a further 35% - or 44 million young people

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Clearly there are some major challenges

15.7 .7

million youth are unemployed

62.1 million youth are working but poor 95%

are in informal employment Over 60% of NEETs are young women

• f young

workers

ILO research estimates that in order to create and maintain full and productive employment the annual rate of productive job creation will have to increase from its current rate of 4.8 % per year (2010-2017) to 7.1 % per year.

– Requires inter alia sustained high rates of balanced economic growth

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

The pace of job creation in the region must accelerate…..

There is an urgency for macro-economic demand side stimulation so as to create sufficient job

• pportunities outside of low productivity

agriculture. Facilitating structural transformation and economic diversification is key;

– Sectoral investment strategies to promote youth employment are thus clearly called for.

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Clearly there are some major challenges

15.7 .7

million youth are unemployed

62.1 million youth are working but poor 95%

are in informal employment Over 60% of NEETs are young women

• f young

workers

Young women: a special emphasis

There is a need to focus particularly on the situation of young women:

– Higher NEET rates – Higher rates of vulnerable employment

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Policy messages:

Promoting decent work for youth

Developing macro-economic policies to stimulate jobs creation for youth Developing partnerships: Such as the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth Leveraging the potential for digital jobs: For example, by fostering digital start-ups Creating context-specific active labour market policies for young people. No single intervention is superior to all. Developing core working skills to enable life-long learning.

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

To know more: Major ILO publications on youth

Future of work for African youth, Geneva, February 7th, 2019

Youth Employment Programme (YEP) Unit Employment Policy Department International Labour Office Route des Morillons 4 CH-1211 Genève 22 Switzerland ilo.org/youth youth@ilo.org facebook.com/youth.ilo @ILOYouth