Creating youth employment in Asia

S. Mahendra Dev ()
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S. Mahendra Dev: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India

Abstract: Several countries in the Asia-Pacific region are experiencing demographic changes. Over 60 per cent of the world's youth live in Asia and the Pacific, which translates into more than 750 million young women and men aged 15 to 24 years. They represent a key asset for the countries of this region. Young people are a major human resource for development, key agents for social change and driving force for economic development and technological innovation. But harnessing these resources is a major challenge. The youth challenge is considered as the most critical of the 21st century's economic development challenge. In this context, this paper examines the labour market characteristics for adults and the entire population. Then it analyses challenges and opportunities in labour market for youth. Next, the paper discusses the existing and needed policies for taking care of the challenges in overall and youth labour markets. It also provides conclusions and recommendations. We also highlight the gender issues in the paper. The recommendations include direct policies such as active lbour market policies, social protection programmes, fair migration and indirect policies like pro employment macro policies. There are significant links between creating employment opportunities for the youth and enhancement of human development. Employment and livelihoods particularly productive youth employment has impact on most of the indicators of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They can reduce poverty, under nutrition, improve the education, health and gender equality.

Keywords: Youth employment; unemployment; active labour market policies; social protection; maternity benefits; employment injury; disability benefits; migration; skill development; pro employment macro policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 J23 J24 J28 J30 J61 J83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 72 pages
Date: 2014-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-sea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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