There is growing insecurity among youth who are unable to find jobs other than part-time and temporary work, says a new ILO report.

It warns that a ‘scarred' generation may have long-term consequences such as distrust of the entire political and economic system.

Between 2008 and 2009, the number of unemployed youth increased by 4.5 million worldwide, with part-time employment rates increasing in all developed economies, except Germany.

Noting that ‘collective frustration' among youth was a big contributing factor to the protest movements, such as the ‘Arab Spring' and Occupy Wall Street, the report says high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, and persistent high poverty in the developing world may prove to be a “dangerous mix” in the days to come.

The report, ‘Global Employment Trends for Youth: 2011 Update', released globally by the International Labour Organisation on Wednesday, notes that the decline in the absolute number of unemployed youth from 75.8 million in 2009 to 75.1 million in late 2010, may continue in 2011 at 74.6 million in 2011. This is more due to “youth withdrawing from the labour market, rather than finding jobs,” especially in the developed economies and the European Union.

Mr José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Director of the ILO Employment Sector, said “Measures such as addressing skills mismatches, job search support, entrepreneurship training, subsidies to hiring, etc. can make a difference, but ultimately more jobs must come…”

He called upon Governments to look beyond labour markets and speed up the repair of the financial system, bank restructuring and re-start credit to small and medium enterprises to generate more jobs.

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