Youth Employment in the Americas: Challenges and Prospects

Speakers:

• Megan Keenan, Senior Policy Advisor, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development
• Jonas Prising, President of the Americas, Manpower Group
• Sean Rush, President & CEO, Junior Achievement Worldwide
• Robert Suess, General Manager, LATAM Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Corporation
• Christopher Sabatini, Senior Director, Policy, Americas Society/Council of the Americas (Moderator)

Summary

This public event is part of a series of private and public discussions on social inclusion issues in the Americas under Americas Society’s Ford Foundation-funded Social Inclusion initiative. The panel brought together public- and private-sector experts on employment issues to discuss strategies to reduce the barriers young adults face in entering the job market. It also coincided with the launch of the report Taking Youth to Market: Expanding Formal Labor Market Access through Public-Private Collaboration.

Youth Unemployment and Underemployment

Despite years of high GDP growth in many countries in Latin America, by the end of 2009 young adults in the region were nearly three times less likely to find a job than their older counterparts. Latin America is one of few regions where the proportion of adults aged 30 and younger will grow in coming years. Expanding opportunities and promoting greater market access for this group—particularly to formal labor markets—is crucial to ensuring future economic growth and political stability.

Public-Private Perspectives

As in Latin America, young people in New York City face high unemployment rates and challenges in securing formal employment. One reason that many youth find themselves unemployabled is their lack of prior experience in a workplace setting. Sean Rush emphasized the importance of placing young people in work environments to help develop fundamental skills and competencies that cannot be taught in a classroom.

New York City has caught on to this approach and through the Department of Youth and Community Development has developed afterschool programs, internships, temporary job placements, and workforce development programs targeted at 14 to 24-year-olds. However, due to lack of funding—made worse by recent public sector budget cuts—New York City is only serving 1 percent of the eligible youth population. In fact, Department of Youth programs generally receive four times as many applicants as there are places available. According to Megan Keenan, public-private collaboration can significantly enhance the funding available as well as create internship and job-placement programs.

Microsoft and Manpower

When discussing youth unemployment in the United States or across Latin America, the skills mismatch is a ubiquitous concern. In fact, according to Jonas Prising, a Manpower survey of 40,000 private companies across the region revealed that 50 percent are struggling to find qualified employees, up from 40 percent last year. This mismatch is even more pronounced in emerging markets like Brazil, where 60 percent of employers find it difficult to fill positions, as well as Peru and Chile, where the economies and job sectors are shifting too fast for public education curricula to adapt. Private companies are playing a crucial role in bridging this skills gap, both as employers and as for-profit entities. Through programs like Students to Business, which was featured in the Taking Youth to Market report, Microsoft trains young people in computer proficiency using its Office products. The experience with Office gives Students to Business program beneficiaries a competitive edge over their peers. At the same time, Microsoft creates new customers and is able to tap into the young consumer demographic—creating a win-win scenario.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The resounding conclusion of the panel was that public school systems across the Americas are failing to supply young people with the skills they need to be competitive in the formal labor market. Private companies are ready and willing to engage the public sector. However, there is a need for a more formalized mechanism for private companies to communicate to education policymakers exactly what skills and training are in demand. This is especially necessary in emerging markets that have faster-paced and therefore often-changing job markets.