ILO: RP youth more likely to end up jobless than adults

Young job seekers in the Philippines and other developing countries are "three times more unlikely to find jobs" compared to adults, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported yesterday.

ILO Director General Juan Somavia said that youth unemployment is steadily increasing, noting that the problem is more "pronounced" in developing countries, including the Philippines.

"The relative disadvantage is more pronounced in developing countries where the youth represent a significantly higher proportion of the labor force than in developed economies," Somavia explained.

He cited a recent ILO survey indicating that the number of unemployed 15 to 24-year-olds worldwide has increased by 15 percent from 74 million to 85 million between 1995 to 2005.

The youth are one of the most economically productive age groups in society, according to the ILO. They now comprise 44.5 percent of the world’s unemployed, but represent just 25 percent of the labor force, it said.

Reports from Geneva said that in the Philippines, the number of young unemployed continued to increase from 1.7 million in 2000 to around two million in 2004.

"Looking at the average ratio of youth unemployment rate to adult employment rate in the Philippines would reveal that young people are three times more likely to find themselves unemployed as compared to adults relative to the labor force population," the ILO said.

The trend is even worse for young females, who are four times more likely to become unemployed than adult females.

By region, Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog posted the highest youth unemployment.

Even having some education does not guarantee decent work for the young, as bulk of the unemployed were college undergraduates followed by high school and college graduates.

Cited as reasons for the high unemployment rate in the Philippines were deteriorating quality of education, weak linkages between the education and training institutions, discriminatory hiring practices and inability of labor market to provide employment.

Somavia said the same study also revealed that 300 million youth, or approximately 25 percent of the world’s youth population, were living below the $2 per day poverty line.

"Despite the increased economic growth, the inability of the economies to create enough decent and productive jobs is hitting the world’s young especially hard," Somavia said in a statement.

According to Somavia, of the 1.1 billion young people, one out of three is either seeking but unable to find work — or has given up the search entirely.

To address the problem of growing unemployment among Filipino youth, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday said that the government has intensified programs to provide free training for young workers. — With AFP