Young workers in Asia face instability

A new International Labour Organisation (ILO) report on the transitions of young people from education to the employment market in Asia and the Pacific, finds a majority of youth in the region are either in low quality jobs or unemployed.

Nearly half of the workers aged 15-29 in Asia and the Pacific are self-employed and two in three youth are in paid work without a written contract, said a new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). According to the study, informality and vulnerable employment are the reality for the vast majority of young workers in the region.

While unemployment remains an important concern for young people in the region, the low-quality of work is by far a bigger problem. Of those who do have jobs, very few have a written employment contract or access to core benefits like paid sick leave or social security coverage.

“The lack of prospects for secure employment, along with increased education, access to modern technology and exposure to the perceived advantages of developed economies, create the risk of frustration among youth.

This, in turn, can culminate in political unrest and external migration,” said ILO youth employment specialist and author of the report, Sara Elder.

The findings are based on school-to-work surveys carried out in 2012-13 among young people in five countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Samoa and Vietnam), under the ILO's Work4Youth (W4Y) Project -- a global partnership between the ILO and The MasterCard Foundation. The countries’ average youth unemployment rate was 14.2 percent, ranging from 3.8 percent in Cambodia to 28.9 percent in Nepal. The unemployment rate of young women exceeded that of their male counterparts in all five countries.

The average female youth unemployment rate was 19.9 percent, compared to the male rate of 11.9 percent. The percentage of young people in informal employment ranges from 67.7 percent of young workers in Samoa to 98.3 percent in Cambodia. Here women are also at a disadvantage. In all five countries young men were more likely to find stable, regular employment and to earn higher wages.