Youth Employability
Globally, nearly 68 million young women and men are looking for and available for work, and an estimated 123 million young people are working but living in poverty. The number who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) stands at 267 million, a majority of whom are young women. Significantly, young people are three times as likely as adults (25 years and older) to be unemployed. Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market. Source: International Labour Organization, 2020
Learn about two organizations that I advocate and partner with: the Youth Action Project in San Bernardino, CA and Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator in South Africa.
Youth Action Project
San Bernardino, CA, USA
The Youth Action Project is a non-profit organization that works to empower San Bernardino’s youth to develop the skills and habits needed to experience economic and social success. Our work is intended to bring positive change by helping local youth graduate from high school, complete college or vocational training, develop work skills, and make responsible choices. If we enable our youth to become educated, gainfully employed, responsible community members, we believe we can reduce the prevalence of crime, drugs, teenage pregnancy and poverty in our community. In other words, we want to stop problems before they start. Statistics show that teens who participate in positive youth development activities graduate from high school and go on to college at dramatically higher rates than teens who don’t. Ultimately, our work benefits not only the youth, but the community as a whole. With a better-prepared workforce, our community can be a more desirable place for companies to locate, and local businesses can be more successful.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. The legacy of apartheid along with rapid globalization have left many young people geographically removed from job opportunities. A lack of information, skills, networks, and social capital leave these young people discouraged and excluded. It is estimated that 40 percent of this generation will never secure stable work, despite a large investment in skills training by South Africa’s government and private sector. Employers say they struggle to find work-ready candidates and lack the ability to effectively evaluate these young job seekers.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator builds scalable solutions for the youth labor market across the formal and informal economy. Its matching tools and real-world training methodology help employers quickly and reliably gauge work-readiness and increase retention. Its high-tech “pathwaying platform” connects job seekers with opportunities developed through partnerships with businesses—whether behind a counter at Nando’s or at a desk at Deloitte.