Newsletter

2014 shy 2015

The ILOrsquos Work4Youth (W4Y)Project is a global partnershipbetween the ILO and TheMasterCard Foundation

Editorial

Dear colleagues and friends

We hope that you like us will be excited to see what we have achieved over thelast two years as we were able to transform our ambitious research agenda intoconcrete deliverables Some of the highlights

We have partnered with national statistics offices in 35 countries to run50 schoolshytoshywork transition surveys The surveys have served as thebasis for innovative research on issues of youth labour market transitions The Work4Youth Publications Series now numbers 30 reports andcounting We have organized 19 national workshops and four regional ones Weencouraged our tripartite constituents to openly discuss options for policyand programmatic solutions to overcome the national challenges of creatingquality jobs for youth The second W4Yshysupported edition of the Global Employment Trends forYouth (2015) was launched in October to a whirlwind of media interest A first W4Y Call for Papers was issued to spread the word to academia andthe research community on the analytical potential of the schoolshytoshyworktransition surveys Selected papers were presented at the first W4YResearch Symposium in February 2015 Exciting thematic reports have deepened our knowledge on issues such asyouth in informal employment youth employment in the context of ruraldevelopment and how education relates to labour market results includingthe topic of qualifications mismatch

And we are not done yet It will be our great pleasure to continue to put forthinnovative data and analysis and to engage with policy makers as we enter our fifthand final year of the W4Y project

We invite you to look further into our achievements as outlined in this Newsletterand please do not hesitate to contact the W4Y team if you would like additionalinformation on any report or activity The Work4Youth TeamSara Elder Valentina Barcucci Rosemary Boamah Marcelo Cuautle SegoviaYonca Gurbuzer Marco Minocri Marco Principi

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News and events

Publications update The W4Y Publication series now includes more than twentynational reports summarizing the findings of the SchoolshytoshyWork Transition Surveys(SWTS) and presenting policy implications The series also includes regional reportssynthesizing regional youth labour market trends thematic global reports andtechnical briefs All publications are available for download on our website

Thematic reports To date three thematic reports have been produced to investigatetimely issues of relevance to youth employment from the global perspective offered bythe SWTS The highlights include

Youth and informal employment With threeshyquarters of young workers currentlyengaged in informal employment the report highlights the unfortunate link ofincome generation to informal work in the majority of developing economies

Youth and rural development While confirming some blurring between rural andurban areas in terms of sectoral distribution of employment the report concludesthat many countries ndash especially the lowshyincome countries ndash have a long way to goin the diversification of rural economies beyond agriculture and petty trades andeven further in building the capacity of rural labour markets to generate decentemployment opportunities for young people See blog

Is education the solution to decent work for youth in developing economies Thisreport shows that youth with postshysecondary education living in middle and lowshyincome countries have a much higher chance of finding a decent job than thosewith only secondary or primary education Yet still in lowshyincome countrieseducation level alone is not enough to ensure a better labour market outcome foryouth See press release

Country summaries With a second survey round now completed in many of the targetcountries results are being summarized in short W4Y country summaries The firstreports were prepared on subshySaharan African countries in advance of the regionalconference but remaining countries will be added shortly

Technical briefs The series of W4YTechnical briefs is intended to answervery specific research questions aroundthe issue of youth employment through ananalysis of the SchoolshytoshyWork transitionsurveys (SWTS) from 28 lowshy and middleshyincome countries The two briefs to date focus on

Does the workshystudy combinationamong youth improve the transitionpathWhat does NEETs mean and whyis the concept so easilymisinterpreted

Global Employment Trends for Youth2015 Scaling up investments indecent jobs for youth Issued inOctober the Global Employment Trendsfor Youth 2015 provides an update on keyglobal and regional youth labour marketindicators and trends focusing both onthe continuing labour market instabilityand on structural issues in youth labourmarkets The report offers valuablelessons learned on ldquowhat worksrdquo for youthemployment and on emerging practices inpolicy responses Ideally these will shapefuture investments in youth employmentas countries continue to prioritize youth intheir national policy agendas

Regional Workshop What works toboost labour demand for youth shy therole of structural transformation Thisregional workshop (Livingstone Zambia21shy23 October 2015) broughttogether representatives fromgovernments employersrsquo and workersrsquoorganizations from ten SubshySaharancountries (Benin Liberia MadagascarMalawi Republic of Congo Sierra Leone

South Africa Togo Uganda and Zambia)as well as experts and practitioners in thearea of agricultural diversification Readmore

Regional Conference for EasternEurope and Central Asia The W4YRegional Conference on Labour MarketTransition of Young Women and Men inEastern Europe and Central Asia(Geneva 28shy29 April 2015) broughttogether representatives of governmentsemployers organizations and tradeunions from ten countries in the region todiscuss youth employment challenges inthe region and share experience oneffective policy measures andprogrammes Read more

Research Symposium The W4Y GlobalResearch Symposium (Geneva 3shy4March 2015) showcased the winners ofthe first W4Y Call for Papers on labourmarket transitions of young women andmen in developing countries The eventincluded researchers from leadingresearch institutions and developmentpractitioners who engaged in discussionson topics of innovative research based onthe SWTS Read more

Regional Conference for Asia and thePacific The findings of the regionalreport on Labour market transitions ofyoung women and men in Asia and thePacific were presented in Bangkok on21shy22 May 2014 Representatives ofgovernments employers organizationsand trade unions from six countrieswhere the SWTS were conducteddiscussed the main challenges youth facein the region where informality andvulnerable employment are the reality forthe vast majority of young workers Readmore

Regional Conference for subshySaharanAfrica The first W4Y regionalconference took place in Addis Ababa on3shy4 December 2013 The report onLabour market transitions of youngwomen and men in SubshySaharan Africawas presented to constituents from theeight countries where the schoolshytoshyworktransition surveys (SWTS) wereconducted and good practices in youthemployment interventions werepresented Read more

Surveys and data

An update on the ILOs SchoolshytoshyWork Transition Survey (SWTS) TheSWTS is the core of the W4Y project andthe basis for all resulting research A firstround of surveys was implementedbetween 2012 and 2013 in 28 countriesand a second round took place between2014 and 2015 primarily in the samecountries but adding also six new onesCheck the progress report for each W4Ytarget country

SchoolshytoshyWork Transition Survey (SWTS) micro data files The SWTS were carried

out in more than 30 countries between 2012 and 2015 The micro data files and

questionnaires are made available for download on the W4Y website

Databases YouthSTATS and YouthPOLReliable national statistics on youth labour markets are now made available thanks to theW4Ys YouthSTATS database The database hosted on the ILOStat database includesa comprehensive set of indicators on young people aged 15shy29 year in the developingworld SWTS data are included as well as data tabulated from national householdsurveys in more than 50 countries

YouthPOL is an onshyline inventory of youth employment policies and legislation Itprovides policy makers researchers and practitioners with relevant upshytoshydateinformation on policy responses for youth employment in more than 50 countriescovering five regions An initial review of YouthPOL (cited in the Global EmploymentTrends for Youth 2015) concluded that the majority of the existing measures focus onskills development and to a lesser degree on labour market policies A first comparativeanalysis of policies for youth employment in the Asian and Pacific region is availablehere

Country level work W4Y has partnered in Malawi with the STED project (Skills forTrade and Economic Diversification) a global technical cooperation project funded by theSwedish International Development Cooperation Agency The result of this collaborationis WIL an initiative developing a Work Integrated Learning model to bridge the gapbetween the theoretical training provided by the national system and the practical skillsrequired by the labour market The WIL targets the agriculture sector and thehorticulture subshysector in particular with a pilot strategy that can later be expanded to

other sectors The main output of this initiative is a training curriculum that will strengthenkey skills areas in vegetable production including seedling nursery establishmentcultivation postshyharvesting and supplyshychain management The leadership of the WILintervention lies with Malawis constituents and the National TVET Authority The projectis mostly implemented through a series of consultations and inclusive workshysessions andnational partners are responsible for the coordination of significant parts of the workshyplan This is one of the major strengths of the WIL approach which is generatingincreasing interest to scaleshyup the initiative once the pilot is completed

Blogs

4 things youshould knowabout NEETs bySara Elder

How Youth Moveto Work in RuralCommunities NewEvidence by ChrisJohnston

Watch

Working poverty remains main concern for youngpeople in SubshySaharan Africa shy an interview with

Sara Elder W4Y Coordinator

Highlights of the Global Employment Trends forYouth 2015

Making the move from school to work in Malawi andZambia

Forthcoming

The second W4Y Call for Papers has been issued in partnership with the Instituteof the Study of Labour (IZA) The selected papers will be discussed at the secondW4Y Global Research Symposium to be held during the first quarter of 2016

Sample of forthcoming publications

It runs in the family Intrashyhousehold correlations in labour market outcomesNovember 2015Labour market transitions of young women A gender analysis of the ILO schoolshytoshywork transitions surveys January 2016Financial inclusion of youth Evidence from the ILO schoolshytoshywork transitionsurveys January 2016

Stay tuned to check whats coming next

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