Youth have always had higher unemployment rates – about twice or more than the average – as they are usually the last to be hired in an expansion and the first to be let go in a recession. In addition, young people engage in extensive job searching in their early years, and this can imply considerable job churning as both youth and employers look for a good match. This highlights the importance of facilitating the school-to-work transition and having early interventions to assist such youth before negative conditions set in. It also highlights the potential importance of determining those young people most “at risk” of long-term unemployment, and of targeting or streaming them into programmes that will yield the largest incremental net benefits given their characteristics. Unemployed youth without previous work experience often are not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits when they first enter the labour market. When they do receive job search assistance, they often face a bewildering array of programmes that are available to assist them, often with little guidance to help them select the programs that best meet their needs. Consequently, ensuring that today’s youth do not become a “lost generation” is an urgent matter. George Bernard Shaw once said that it is too bad that “youth is wasted on the young”, implying that youth do not realize the opportunities they have as youth and only see them as they get older. There is a danger, however, that many of today’s youth may be never have those opportunities and hence not even see them with hindsight. This book and others in the ADAPT Labour Studies Book-Series are intended to deal with these challenges, to make sure that youth is not wasted on the young.

This book analyses the accessibility and success of vocational training programmes for unemployed and disadvantaged youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Examining the implementation of vocational education and training programmes, the author assesses various internal and external enabling factors that can help foster youth employment. In doing so, the author presents a solid base for robust and evidence-informed practice and policy making for vocational training programmes, analysing such themes as employability skills, the labour market, and work-integrated learning. It also emphasises the importance of stakeholders taking into account the enabling and disabling environments found in a given local, regional or national context. It will be of interest to scholars of vocational training programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, as well as of youth poverty and unemployment.

This informative book discusses in depth the youth unemployment "problem" and examines the various policy responses to it, including education and training, and active labor market policy. It emphasizes the need for adequate labor market information, policy monitoring and program evaluation to help provide more and better quality jobs for young people --while also offering specific recommendations and guidelines for this age group in industrialized, transition and developing countries.

Unemployment and underemployment are global development challenges. The situation in Ghana is no different. In 2016, it was projected that, given the country’s growing youth population, 300,000 new jobs would need to be created each year to absorb the increasing numbers of unemployed young people. Yet the employment structure of the Ghanaian economy has not changed much from several decades ago. Most jobs are low skill, requiring limited cognitive or technology know-how, reflected in low earnings and work of lower quality. An additional challenge for Ghana is the need to create access to an adequate number of high-quality, productive jobs. This report seeks to increase knowledge about Ghana’s job landscape and youth employment programs to assist policy makers and key stakeholders in identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs and strengthen coordination among major stakeholders. Focused, strategic, short- to medium-term and long-term responses are required to address current unemployment and underemployment challenges. Effective coordination and synergies among youth employment programs are needed to avoid duplication of effort while the country’s economic structure transforms. Effective private sector participation in skills development and employment programs is recommended. The report posits interventions in five priority areas that are not new but could potentially make an impact through scaling up: (1) agriculture and agribusiness, (2) apprenticeship (skills training), (3) entrepreneurship, (4) high-yielding areas (renewable energy†“solar, construction, tourism, sports, and green jobs), and (5) preemployment support services. Finally, with the fast-changing nature of work due to technology and artificial intelligence, Ghana needs to develop an education and training system that is versatile and helps young people to adapt and thrive in the twenty-first century world of work.

Comprises ten papers grouped under two themes: European strategies to fight youth unemployment: a comparative analysis and critical assessment; and National Action Plans: trends and challenges.

On cover: Labour market and working environment. Proceedings of a Nordic Seminar, held in Helsinki, Finland, on 22-24 January 1996.