Promoting Youth Employment: policies and programmes

Organization(s): UNRISD
Author: Dharam Ghai
Year: 1988
PDF of Resource

This paper deals primarily with programmes for expansion of youth employment opportunities, paying special attention to generation of self-employment through youth enterprise. Since these programmes cannot be considered in isolation of the nature of youth unemployment and the overall policies for employment creation, the initial sections of the paper focus on the emergence, dimensions and characteristics of youth unemployment, and elements of employment-oriented strategies. This is followed by a discussion of various types of youth employment programmes. Three kinds of wage employment programmes are considered: job creation in the state sector, wage employment in private enterprises and training and apprenticeship schemes. The rest of the paper is concerned with self-employment promotion programmes, a distinction being made between conventional schemes and participatory initiatives. On the basis of the preceding discussion, some suggestions are put forward for promoting self-employment through youth enterprises. The paper covers both more and less developed countries with emphasis, however, on the Commonwealth developing countries.