UN labour conference focuses on Impact of job crisis on youth

(May 31, 2012) Nearly 5,000 delegates on Wednesday kicked off a United Nations forum in Geneva Switzerland, focusing on the global jobs crisis and its impact on youth, as well as social protection and rights at work. The 101st International Labour Conference comes at a time, when around 30 million people have been added to the unemployed, since the 2008 financial crisis; and nearly 40 million more have stopped looking for employment, according to the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO). “We know that it's time for a policy rethink,” ILO's Director-General, Juan Somavia, told the opening session, noting that some 45-50 million new jobs are needed each year, over the next five years, just to get back to the pre-crisis job situation. Somavia highlighted, in particular, the impact of the crisis on the world's young people. He said generally, youth jobless rates are nearly three times that of adults. This is without the many millions worldwide, who have become discouraged and stopped looking for work. Furthermore, those who do get a job, are likely to be working part time, on temporary contracts, or precarious work,” he said. “There is little intergenerational solidarity, when the adult generation who formulates policy, lets the young generation carry a heavy share of the burden of the crises, he added.