From an international and comparative perspective, young people’s access to the labour market is a complex issue with certain contradictory aspects reflecting the level of development of labour law and industrial relations in their respective countries. In the most advanced economies, there has been a steady increase in the age at which young people exit the educational system and enter the labour market, giving rise to significant economic and social problems. The increase in levels of educational attainment is associated in some cases with an alarming rate of unemployment among those with academic qualifications, while employers encounter considerable difficulty in recruiting workers for unskilled and semi-skilled positions. The economies of developing countries, on the other hand, are characterized by different trends, reminiscent of the early stages of modern labour law, with the large-scale exploitation of young workers and children, many of whom join the flow of migrants towards the more highly developed regions of the world, with the consequent risk of impoverishing human capital in the country of origin. The ADAPT Labour Studies Book-Series has in connection been set up with a view to achieving a better understanding of these and other issues in the field of Labour and Employment relations in a global dimension, through an interdisciplinary and comparative approach.

The vision, hope, and self-confidence they need starts with equipping them with a set of skills that is relevant and responsive to the demands of the labor force in their country and to the global economy of the 21st century. [...] The youth challenge in Morocco, as in most countries, clearly has two sides: how to train, motivate, and mobilize out- of-school youth, and how to ensure that those still in school remain as long as possible and that, when they do leave, they function effectively as economic and civic participants. [...] MAKING EDUCATION RELEVANT AED's ALEF project, which is funded by USAID, reaches more than 255,000 primary and junior high school students in Morocco with a variety of strategies to improve their education and to enrich their academics with a set of concrete skills that helps them to attain their full potential in the workplace. [...] "I have learned to listen to others, to respect them, to work in a team, and to respect my commitments. [...] Besides meeting a real need by enabling students to find sustenance during the school day, the group used the profits to aid classmates in economic need, helping them to purchase school supplies and other necessary items beyond their families' means.