Youth Unemployment: Causes, Effects, and Possible Solutions Essay

This essay addresses the critical issue of youth unemployment, defining it as the inability of young people aged 16-24 to find jobs despite actively seeking them. It highlights the global scope of the problem, citing statistics from the United Nations and the United States, and emphasizes the severe socio-economic impacts, including a 'lost generation', political unrest, increased public spending, and mental health issues. The essay explores various causes, such as lack of skills, economic downturns, and inadequate employment policies. It proposes several solutions, including balanced employment policies, support for self-employment and entrepreneurship, the establishment of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and a shift towards skills-centered education. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of addressing youth unemployment to maintain a country's economic performance and competitiveness, advocating for government intervention through policy changes and educational reforms.

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Youth Unemployment
Youth unemployment is a situation where young people age 16-24 are actively looking
for a job but cannot find it. According to united nations statistics, 1.2 billion youths in the world
are unemployed constituting 17% world population and 87% of these youths live in developing
countries (Moffitt 79). These youths have skills and are willing to work but cannot lay a hand on
job opportunities in the society. In United States of America, 13% of youths were unemployed
by 2007, 18% by 2008 and as July 2017 the unemployment rate had increased to 19.2% among
youths. These are youths who are neither in school nor at work. This menace has created ‘a lost
generation’, political unrest, increased public spending, lack of innovation, incarceration and
mortality rate has gone higher. The question is, how can we solve unemployment among youths
in our society? Despite high percentage of unemployment, there are considerable number of
youths who graduate yearly hoping to join job market, what is there fate?
Therefore, if measures are not put in place earlier enough to mitigate this menace, the
problem will escalate and blow off in our faces. Youth unemployment indeed has grave impacts
on socio-economic development of our country, United States of America (Verbruggen 729-

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749). It has created a lost generation, a generation which is unproductive and impacting
negatively on young people and their families. Their earning rates are low, dependency rate high
creating financial crisis for their families as they live with their parents hence increase in poverty
levels. Unemployment pose a great threat on youths’ career development as unemployed are not
able to build on their skills and experience. It also leads in decrease in happiness, job satisfaction
and increase in mental health issues. Due to unproductiveness among unemployed youths, they
become idle, therefore creating political unrest and other social issues. When they feel provoked
by the government, they stage demonstrations characterized with violence. Some politicians also
use them to gain political milestone.
Economically, America losses resources as government tend to cushion unemployed
youths via benefit payments, lost income tax and wasted capacity. According to London School
of Economics, Britain government spends around 247 million pounds to cushion young
unemployed through benefits and lost productivity. By 2011, economic loss due to
unemployment in youths stood at 154 billion pounds in Europe (Yenilmez and K?l?ç 128-141).
Decrease in competitiveness for the affected countries, loss of talents and skills from
unemployed university graduates who cannot find jobs and put their knowledge into innovation.
Their divergent thinking, creativity and innovation is missed in the labor market. Unemployment
also leads to idleness among youths, they therefore tend to engage in unpleasant behaviors such
as drug abuse, their physical and mental health are always at risk leading to incarcerations and
even deaths. Youths tend to look for solutions of their unemployment problems by sometimes
emigrating to other countries to look for greener pasture. This has always lead to brain drain
depriving off their native countries skills and even tax revenues.

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Solving unemployment among youths is key to maintaining a country’s economic
performance and competitiveness (Vukovic, Djokovic, and Roncevic 173-182). Therefore, a
country should adopt more balanced employment policies for permanent and temporary workers
in the labor market. This would give young inexperienced graduates opportunities to prove their
skills and capabilities and even develop to regular employees. This would be an ideal solution
compared to spending money through initiatives such as finance assistance to cushion youths.
Youths should be sensitized and supported to become self-employed as this would even result in
creation of opportunities to others. Government should establish technical and vocational
education and training (TVET) that specifically train youths for jobs, this would solve skills
crisis in the country. Youths trained through TVETs have proved to be marketable since they
possess relevant skills needed in labor market. They would be able to access opportunities and
increase in their income and ultimately social benefits. Vocation education and training also
increases employers’ productiveness as graduated trainees offer relevant skills needed for
production.
Education system of a country also need to be readjusted from that of knowledge-
centered to skills-centered (Adina 105-116). Educators need to adopt center-skill-based curricula
instead of content-based ones so as tom align graduates with the labor market demands. Policies
should be established by education sector to train and equip youths with entrepreneurial skills.
Government should also encourage entrepreneurship culture among youths, as youths establish
small and medium enterprises the rate of unemployment would greatly reduce. In conclusion,
unemployment among youth is a threat to our economy as unemployed youths are not able to put
their skills and innovations in production and other income generating activities, instead
government spends money to try to cushion them. Government should therefore come up

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measures to mitigate unemployment by encouraging entrepreneurship culture among youths,
establish a balanced employment programs that creates opportunities to youth and finally adopt
centered-skilled-based curricula that promotes skills needed in labor market.

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Works Cited
Adina. "Education System, Labour Market and Education System Graduates Employment in
Romania." EUROPEAN RESEARCH STUDIES JOURNAL XV.Issue 2 (2012): 105-
116. Print.
Moffitt, Richard. "Unemployment benefits and unemployment." IZA World of Labor (2014):
pag. 79. Print.
Verbruggen, Janna. "Effects of Unemployment, Conviction and Incarceration on
Employment: A Longitudinal Study on the Employment Prospects of Disadvantaged
Youths." British Journal of Criminology 56.4 (2015): 729-749. Print.
Vukovic, Adrijana, Goran Djokovic, and Danilo Roncevic. "The necessity of solving the
youth unemployment." Ekonomika 61.1 (2015): 173-182. Print.
Yenilmez, Füsun, and Esin K?l?ç. Handbook of Research on Unemployment and Labor
Market Sustainability in the Era of Globalization. Hershey: IGI Global, (2016): 128-
141. Print.