Cand. Sc. Rynkevich A.V. (co-author), Klimenkov M.S. (student)
University of
Technology, Russia
Youth
unemployment as a serious problem
The problem of youth unemployment is not new.
Only few can understand the plight of the young jobless who become social
cop-outs after failing to get hired. High level of unemployment among young
people is one of the biggest problems confronting societies around the world,
condemning whole generations to a life of much reduced income. High rates of joblessness among young people have been explained in two
quite different ways. The traditional view holds that the problem is one of job
availability. A general shortage of openings makes it very difficult for some
workers to find jobs. It takes the unemployed a long time to find a job. The
“new” view sees employment instability as the crux of the joblessness problem.
It treats the large flow into unemployment rather than the long length of
unemployment spells as the crucial symptom of the problem [1].
The
number of young jobless people is very high in many countries. There are
currently 73 million people
around the world aged
15-24 who want to
work but cannot find
a job. The International Labour Organization said that although youth
unemployment is coming down in rich countries, it is rising in most of Asia,
the Middle East, North Africa and Brazil [2]. It warns that youth employment
worldwide is set to rise. It is difficult for many young people especially
women to look for work. The
highest rate of
women unemployment around the
world is in the
Middle East and
North Africa.
There are many reasons for the high number of
unemployed young people today. Certainly, during the recession period the
joblessness among the youth is increasing at quicker rate. The global economic
downturn, especially the global financial collapse of 2008, has had a lot to do
with the lack of jobs for everyone, not only young people. Many countries have
still not recovered from that.
Many researchers suggest the list of reasons for
the lack of jobs in young people. Let’s have a
closer look at it.
1)
Passive
approach to job search.
2)
Young people
don’t address the needs of employers by creating a resume and cover letter that
clearly demonstrates how they can contribute to the success of the business or
to the organization.
3)
Young people
lose opportunities in the job market.
4)
Serious lack of work ethic amongst younger workers. They seem
to want the job, but they don’t want it enough to show up for work on time or
all of the time. They take days off for personal reasons at a rate much higher
than the rest of the population. They don’t seem to understand that the duties
that they are required to do on the job are crucial to the success of the
business. In other words, they don’t take work very seriously.
5)
Young people
are not reliable employees and they take their responsibilities not seriously.
6)
Lack of
skills and qualifications. College education alone cannot give good impressions
to the employers.
7)
Hysteresis.
Hysteresis is the idea that past unemployment trends are likely to cause future
unemployment. If young people have been unemployed in the past, it becomes
increasingly difficult to get a job. This is because lack of jobs may cause
young workers to become demotivated; a lack of past employment may cause firms
to be unwilling to hire in the first place; unemployment means workers don’t
have the opportunity to learn skills and on the job training.
Although there is a lack of jobs in the current
labour market, there are some jobs that are open to young people. If they want
these jobs they need to not only do a spectacular presentation in the form of
an excellent resume and cover letter, but they must overcome the common perception
that they will be unreliable. The nature of work offered by
the labour market is not intended for the college degree holders: bar services,
waiters, supermarket checkers, drivers, and other low-salary positions.
On the surface, the best way to do that is to
establish a good track record in all areas of their life. Even if they deliver
the mail or take on babysitting jobs, they need to prove that they are reliable
and conscientious. They can also do volunteer work to establish a track record.
In short, young people need to start preparing
themselves for the job market well in advance of looking for work. And when the
time comes to apply for a job they need to take the application process
seriously and make sure that their resume and cover letter address the needs of
the employer and spell out what good employees they will be.
According to the International Labour
Organization report, youth
unemployment is not just
important for a country's economy. It also affects health, social unrest
and levels of
people’s happiness. A third of
unemployed young people regularly "fall apart" emotionally.
Young people risk becoming "socially isolated" while unemployed.
Almost half of unemployed young people "always" or "often"
felt down or depressed, anxiety had stopped them from looking after their
health and it prevented them eating properly. Sometimes they have such a
hard time making ends meet
that they resort to desperate measures. Many have turned to gambling and even
selling their body
to cover their living costs. Young people "sell their
body" to earn
additional cash. They take part in medical trials for money.
If the government cannot help in employing the youth,
the young people should do something to employ themselves. There are plenty
of alternative jobs online that can be applied for. There are different
positions and job vacancies that can give you handsome income.
Lots of jobs are available today and many people from
around the world shift from the traditional work to virtual online
office. Traditional way of applying for job is substituted through online
job applications. To get hired online is ten times faster than the
traditional way of job application. For the graduates, this option of
earning income will help if companies they visited don’t hire them.
There are a couple of key and clear findings as regards youth
unemployment. First youth unemployment, if protracted, is bad for the people
experiencing it and for society; moreover, the negative consequences are
strongly associated with the length of time spent in unemployment. Long-term
youth unemployment is associated with poorer lifetime job prospects, worse
health and greater lifetime unhappiness as well as representing lost output and
income for society as a whole. Second, the recent recession has clearly
worsened the youth unemployment problem in Europe and elsewhere [3].
In the developing world, high youth unemployment represents lost
potential for national economic transformation, and high numbers of
economically frustrated youth may contribute to social instability.
Reference
1. The Dynamics of Youth Unemployment [Ýëåêòðîííûé ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c7875.pdf
2. Jobless young people a
big problem [Ýëåêòðîííûé ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1510/151011-youth-unemployment-m.pdf
3.
Youth Unemployment [Ýëåêòðîííûé ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà: http://ftp.iza.org/pp103.pdf