Jobs for Youth

National Strategies for Employment Promotion 15-16 January 2003, Geneva, Switzerland
Organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization
Venue: Conference Room, 23rd Floor, DC2 Building
Time: 9:30 - 18:00

Background

In the Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly at the Millennium Summit in September 2000 (resolution 55/2), Heads of State and Government resolved to “develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work.” In preparation for this summit, Kofi Annan issued a report (A/54/2000) entitled “We the Peoples: the Role of the United Nations in the Twenty-first Century”, where he first proposed the formation of the Youth Employment Network.

Together with the heads of the World Bank and the International Labour Organization, the Secretary-General convened a high-level policy network on youth employment, comprised of leaders in private industry, civil society and economic policy. Twelve eminent persons where invited to become members of the High-level Panel of the Youth Employment Network (YEN), and they came together for their first meeting in July 2001 at ILO Headquarters in Geneva. At this meeting, Mr. Annan emphasized the need for both immediate action and long-term commitment to achieving the millennium goal on youth employment. He also invited the panel to continue working with him in an advisory capacity on an ongoing basis. Finally, he requested the ILO to take the lead in organizing the future work of the YEN and to assume the responsibility for hosting a permanent Secretariat.

The High-level Panel of the Youth Employment Network developed a set of recommendations on youth employment that were transmitted to the President of the General Assembly (A/56/422), where they were discussed on 19 November 2001 in the overall framework of follow-up to the Millennium Summit. The recommendations, which were favourably received by UN Member States, called for a global alliance for youth employment and a guide to action for achieving decent work for young people. Four top priorities for youth employment were identified: employability; equal opportunities for young men and young women; entrepreneurship; and employment creation. Separate working groups of the high-level panel were formed to address each of the four priority areas in greater detail. The UN has agreed to act as secretariat for the working group on employment creation, which aims to place employment creation at the centre of economic policymaking.

Furthermore, a resolution on promoting youth employment, introduced by Senegal and co-sponsored by over 100 Member States, was adopted by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on 17 October 2002. The resolution encourages Member States to prepare national reviews and action plans in youth employment; invites the ILO, the UN and the World Bank to undertake a global analysis and evaluation of progress made in preparing these national reviews and action plans; and requests the Secretary-General to report on the progress of the YEN at the 58th session of the General Assembly.

Objectives

The Meeting is intended to serve several purposes. One is to allow for an interchange of ideas between experts and members of the S-G’s High-level Panel on strategies for employment promotion for youth. This interaction is intended to stimulate thinking on how to incorporate youth employment into broader employment and macroeconomic policies. Regional experiences will be highlighted, in an effort to explore the practicalities of implementing youth employment policies at the national level. Another purpose of the Meeting is to assist the working group of the High-level Panel in formulating policies and fleshing out their recommendations on employment creation for youth.

Specifically, the meeting will attempt to find answers to the following questions:

1. What kinds of macroeconomic and other policies have worked to stimulate jobs for youth?
2. What kinds of policies are counterproductive to job creation efforts
3. What are some innovative approaches to creating jobs for young people?
4. What are the elements of successful youth job creation efforts?
5. What efforts can be taken to ensure that employment creation is placed at the centre of macroeconomic and other policymaking?

Papers

Background paper: Jobs for Youth
Department for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations

Employment Creation for Youth in Africa: The Gender Dimension
Christiana E.E. Okojie, Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Benin, Nigeria

Youth Employment in the Southern Cone (Summary)
Victor Tokman, Economic Advisor to the President of Chile

Papers on regional youth employment
(Papers prepared by Secretariats of United Nations Regional Commissions)

Youth Employment in the ESCWA Region
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)

Youth Employment in the Asia-Pacific
Region: Prospects and Challenges
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Youth Entrepreneurship Policies and
Programmes in the UNECE Member States
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

Youth and Employment in Latin America and the
Caribbean: Problems, Prospects and Options
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

Youth and Employment in the ECA
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Experts

Prof. Haroon Bhorat, Director, Development Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town

Mr. Duncan Campbell, Employment Strategy Department, ILO, Geneva

Ms. Veronica Cenac, Caribbean Federation of Youth, St. Lucia

Dr. Ildikó Ékes, Department for Social Analysis, ECOSTAT, Budapest

Ms. Karolina Frischkopf, European Youth Forum, Geneva

Mr. Salehudin Ghazali, Asian Youth Council, Malaysia

Dr. Dominique Gross, Employment Sector, ILO, Geneva

Ms. Belén Izquierdo Sans, International Relations, Telefónica S.A., Madrid

Mr. Allan Larsson, former EU Director-General for Employment and Social Affairs; former Minister of Finance; and former Director-General, Swedish Labour Market Board, Sweden

Mr. Eddy Lee, Director, International Policy Group, ILO, Geneva

Prof. Christiana Okojie, Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Benin, Nigeria

Mr. Victor Ortego, World Organization of the Scout Movement, Geneva

Prof. Sue Richardson, Director, National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University, Australia

Mr. Gary Rynhart, Adviser, International Organization of Employers, Geneva

Ms. Irma Specht, InFocus Programme/Crisis Response and Reconstruction, ILO, Geneva

Mr. Victor Tokman, Economic Advisor to the President of Chile, Santiago de Chile

Mr. Magatte Wade, Director-General, AGETIP-Senegal
(Agence d’Exécution des Travaux d’Intérêt Public contre le Sous-Emploi), Dakar

Mr. Andrew Watt, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Brussels

Mr. Ralph Willis, Parliamentarian, Australian Council for Trade Unions; former Federal Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Australia

ILO, Geneva

Mr. Taka Ueda, Ms. Claire Harasty, Ms. Mariangels Fortuny, Ms. Teresa Smout,
Mr. Steven Miller [Secretary, Youth Employment Network]

United Nations Secretariat

Mr. Donald Lee, Ms. Peggy Kelly [DESA, New York]

Observers

Mr. Juma Assiago, Urban Safety Expert (Youth at Risk issues),
Safer Cities Programme, UN HABITAT

Ms. Antonella Casati, Association of Volunteers in International Service

Mr. Thandika Mkandawire, Director, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva

Ms. Yvonne O’Callaghan, Youth Coordinator, ICFTU

Mr. Giampaolo Silvestri, Association of Volunteers in International Service

Mr. Krishnan Subramonia, Chief, Partners Unit, UN HABITAT