Education and Employment are Key Concerns

Regional Issues in a Global Programme Highlighted

Who are the young? Opinion varies widely. Who are to be included under the category "youth"? Not surprisingly, definitions differ considerably. The United Nations, however, defines youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 24. The World Programme of Action highlights two elements that are particularly relevant to the young people of Asia and the Pacific: education and employment. We discuss them below.

What is the need for a special focus on youth? For one thing, the difficult circumstances that people experience in many developing countries are often especially difficult for young people. Limited opportunities for education and training, viable employment, health and social services, as well as the growing threat of substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and delinquency are just a few of the issues that have a disproportionately great impact on young people.

On top of this, many developing countries are also experiencing unprecedented rates of rural-urban migration of young people. It is because of these special concerns that on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the International Youth Year, in December 1995, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond.

In 1995, the world youth population was estimated at 1.03 billion, or 18 per cent of the total world population. The great majority of the world youth population (84 per cent in 1995) lives in the developing countries. This figure is projected to increase to 89 per cent by 2025.

As elsewhere in the world, the annual growth rate of the youth population fell rapidly in most countries of the ESCAP region between the late 1960s and late 1980s, from 3-4 to 1-2 per cent per annum. However, youth population growth in South Asia was considerably higher than in other parts of the region.

Roughly 60 per cent of the world's youth live in Asia. In 1990, there were some 234 million youth in South Asia and 269 million in East Asia alone. On average, the youth population constitutes about 20 per cent of the total population across the ESCAP region. For various historical and demographic reasons, however, some countries in the region have higher ratios. These countries include Thailand, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the Democratic Republic of Korea.

Education and Training

Education and training include not only the formal education system but also continuing and reentry education in non-formal settings. Broad-based training and skills development are essential elements of today's rapidly developing technology, and consequently to meeting the changing needs of society. A strong foundation in basic education is indispensable for preparation of people for training in specific skills.

The prevailing education level of the adult population represents the culmination of past investments in education. In countries that have had low levels of investment in basic education in the past, any policy commitment to pursue rapid improvement in the overall educational level will need to focus on investment in education, particularly literacy. The chart clearly shows the urgent need for intensive literacy campaigns for young people.

The countries of Southeast and East Asia have achieved considerable success in raising literacy levels over the past two decades. In South Asia, however, limited headway has been made. Although the adult literacy rate in South Asia rose from 39 to 50 per cent between 1980 and 1995, it is still significantly lower than the average for other developing countries in the ESCAP region, currently 84 per cent.

There is a need for more investment in literacy for Asia's young people

A particularly urgent issue in South Asia is the gender imbalance in literacy skills. In 1992, the literacy rate of adult women in South Asia was half that of men. Such a gender imbalance in literacy levels is not limited to South Asia but is also found in some countries of Indochina and the Pacific. Given the important role of young women as mothers and primary educators of future generations, improvement in that situation is urgently needed.

If we look at enrolment at higher levels, the dual picture of educational attainment between South Asia and the rest of the region, both in absolute figures and by gender, are not significantly different. Whereas gender gaps in enrolment tend to become smaller for higher levels of education in Southeast and East Asia, they become wider in South Asia. Finally, it should be pointed out that across the region, there are great gaps between rural and urban literacy levels.

Employment

Labour force size is expanding steadily in most developing ESCAP countries. Only in a few countries of the region, notably China, Thailand and Singapore, will the size of the youth labour force decrease over the next two decades. For the region as a whole, it is expected to increase from the average of 2.1 per cent per year recorded during the period 1955-1985 to 2.3 per cent per year for the period 1985-2015. The numbers of youth entering the labour force will increase sharply in countries with high fertility, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines, as shown in Chart 2. The region's total labour force is expected to roughly double over this period. This has major implications for the labour market for youth. It will probably also result in increased overseas labour migration, currently estimated to involve some 120 million workers per year in the region.

In 2015, the region's labour force will have doubled from ten years ago

In the light of these circumstances, there is clearly a need for policies aimed at labour-utilizing investment. These include policies to support informal sector activities, and small-scale and cottage industries. This would also promote self-employment and entrepreneurship. For the few countries for which data are available, youth unemployment is on average four times higher than non-youth unemployment. It appears that in some countries there is a rising level of unemployment among the educated young labour force.

Three factors are specifically attributable to youth unemployment, in addition to the factors that create general unemployment. First, there is in many countries a mismatch between the education and skill levels of young entrants into the labour market and employers' requirements. In a number of developing ESCAP countries, high drop-out rates from primary and secondary education lead to an unskilled workforce that does not meet the requirements of the prevailing level of technology. Related to this is the "over-education" of youth in social sciences and the lack of youth training in technical fields. There is a poor linkage between technical training and labour market needs. The mismatch of skills in labour supply and demand can, however, be effectively addressed by policy measures to strengthen the linkage between the kinds of training offered and the demand for skills.

A second problem, at least in the region's more developed countries, has been the relatively high minimum wages for young people. These tend to discourage employers from recruiting young labour market entrants.

Finally, there is often discrimination against youth in recruitment, where employers value experience, proven ability to perform skills and seniority.