Youth Employment

Useful Resources

Publications and Tools

Publications and Tools

Selected ILO publications (presented in chronological order)
Title	Description	Language
Stimulating Youth Entrepreneurship : Barriers and Incentives to Enterprise Start-ups by Young People (Schoof, Ulrich. International Labour Office. Job Creation and Enterprise Development Dept. ILO InFocus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development. Geneva 2006. 105 pages)	Sheds light on the process of starting and running an enterprise by young women or men, and also gives informed recommendations to governments that want to use the employment creation potential of enterprises for young people themselves and for others.	English
Career Guidance : a Resource Handbook for Low and Middle-income Countries (Hansen, Ellen. International Labour Office. ILO InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability. Geneva 2006. 109 pages)	Reviews trends in high-income countries and comments on the relevance for low-and middle-income countries. Gives specific career guidance Internet websites.	English
Resolution on Youth Employment (International Labour Conference. 93rd session. June 2005.)	Reflects the agreement of governments, employers' and workers' representatives from 178 member States concerning the youth employment challenge and the strategy to meet it. Includes the ILO plan of action to promote pathways to decent work for youth.	English French Spanish
Youth: Pathways to Decent Work: Promoting Youth Employment - Tackling the Challenge (International Labour Conference. Report VI. 93rd ILC Session. 2005. 98 pages).	Provides a global overview of youth employment and the socio-economic factors, which help or hinder young people in getting decent jobs. Discusses national-level initiatives, identifying key lessons in formulating successful policies and programmes. Illustrates also ILO support to constituents in promoting decent work for young people, highlighting approaches and tools that have been or could be useful for constituents.	English French Spanish
Youth Employment Promotion: A review of ILO Work and the Lessons Learned (Freedman, David H. International Labour Office. Employment Strategy Dept. Youth Employment Network. Geneva. 2005. 73 pages)	Traces ILO activities regarding youth employment since 1919.	English
Being "Real" about Youth Entrepreneurship in Eastern and Southern Africa: Implications for Adults, Institutions and Sector Structures (Chigunta, Francis et al.ILO InFocus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development. Geneva. 2005. 93 pages)	Proposes a new approach that is based on mutual respect and learning between young people, practitioners and sector agencies that are in the position to support young citizens in their transition to productive and healthy adults.	English
Starting right : Decent work for young people: Background paper. (International Labour Office. Employment Sector.Tripartite Meeting on Youth Employment: The Way Forward. Geneva, 13-15 October 2004. 50 pages)	Examines trends in youth employment and unemployment from 1993 to 2003 and identifies factors affecting job opportunities for youth. Explores approaches for promoting youth employment at the national level and discusses the role of the ILO in the international context.	English French Spanish
Facilitating Youth Entrepreneruship: An analysis of Awareness and Promotion Programmes in Formal and Non-formal Education - Part I and II (Hafterndorn, Klaus and Salzano, Carmela. ILO InFocus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development. Geneva. 2004. Part I and Part II, 70 pages each)	Analysis awareness and promotion programmes in formal and non-formal education from around the world. Contains an extensive directory with short descriptions of 166 current and recently completed programmes for entrepreneurship education.	Link
Facilitating Labour Market Entry for Youth through Entreprise-based Schemes in Vocational Education and Training and Skills Development (Axmann, Michael. ILO InFocus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development. Geneva. 2004. 87 pages)	Identifies challenges facing vocational education and training schemes and suggests criteria for setting up successful enterprise-based schemes. Investigates good practices in developed and developing countries and makes recommendations for the use of enterprise-based schemes in the promotion of youth employment. Includes a directory of some 25 schemes.	English
Youth Business International: Bridging the gap between unemployment and self-employment for disadvantaged youth (Chambers, Rachel and Anna Lake. ILO InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability. Geneva. 2002. 25 pages)	Describes the activities of Youth Business International (YBI) in aiding unemployed young people to become entrepreneurs.	English
Enterprise-based Youth Employment Policies, Strategies and Programmes: Initiatives for the Development of Enterprise Action and Strategies (White, Simon and Peter Kenyon. ILO InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability. Geneva 2001. 43 pages)	Examines policies and programmes that can assist young people in generating self-employment opportunities. Reviews the purpose, design and implementation of enterprise-based youth employment policies and investigates programme support measures such as skills training, business counselling, finance and support networks. Considers the role of government, private sector enterprises and local communities in the development of these programmes and looks at the financing of youth enterprise development.	English
Meeting the Youth Employment Challenge: A Guide for Employers (International Labour Office. Geneva 2001. 75 pages.)	Outlines initiatives that employers and employers’ organizations can take to stimulate youth employment. Describes measures in the areas of: creating a positive environment for job creation; enhancing employability; promoting youth entrepreneurship; and promoting equality at work for young women and men. Outlines an action plan for employers and their organizations.	English

Selected IOE publications (presented in chronological order)
Title	Description	Location
The Millennium Generation: Decent Jobs for Young People. (Presentation on Youth Employment by Mr. Peter Anderson (AUSTRALIA), Employers spokesperson at the 14th Asian Regional meeting in Busan (Republic of Korea). August 29th - September 1st 2006. 4 pages).	Identifies areas of responsibility employers individually and collectively carry in the area of youth emplyoment, and stimulates thinking by asking some challenging questions.	English
Micro finance: An Employers' Guide. (International Organisation of Employers. May 2006. 24 pages)	Aims at assisting employers’ organizations in developing and defining an appropriate role in national microfinance strategies, where this is relevant. Outlines the different approaches employers’ organizations can take and provides some examples of their activities and those of their member companies in this area.	English
Youth Employment - Secretariat note (International Organisation of Employers. January 2005. 11 pages)	Presents the various dimensions, challenges and actors surronding youth employment from an employer's perspective.	English
Approaches and Policies to Foster Entrepreneurship. (International Organisation of Employers. October 2005. 30 pages)	Aims to help employers’ organizations design and develop approaches and actions to effect policy change to: enable entrepreneurship to thrive; provide the environment where budding entrepreneurs can develop into expanding and innovative enterprises; and assist those in the informal economy in formalizing their undertakings.	English
Joint Statement of the International Organisation of Employers and International Confederation of Free Trade Union regarding the Promotion of Decent Employment for Young People.(Letter addressed to Mr Juan Somavia, Director General of the ILO. Geneva. June 2003. 2 pages)	Expresses the commitment of the IOE and ICFTU (now ITUC) to work together to arrive at solutions that will provide young people everywhere with opportunities for decent and productive work as stated by the UN Millennium Development Goals.	English
Enhancing Youth Employment: Employer Actions (International Organisation of Employers. June 1998. 28 pages)	Reviews the efforts of employers and their organizations to promote youth employment across many countries, and draws from these concrete experiences key elements and lessons which could further guide employers' actions.	English

Selected ILO tools
Title	Description	Location
Know About your Business	This is a practical tool for use by trainers and teachers in vocational education, secondary education and higher education institutions. The main objective of the KAB is to contribute towards the creation of an enterprise culture in a country or society, by promoting awareness among young people of the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurship and self-employment, and of their role in shaping their future and that of their country's economic and social development. The KAB package is designed to provide teachers and trainers with the material necessary for a 120-hour course. It comprises a trainer's handbook and eight modules. Each module represents a key area of entrepreneurship and is divided into several topics. Intended as a stand-alone package, each module requires no previous knowledge of the other modules. It is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesia, Khmer, Kyrgyse, Singhalese, Tamil.	Link
Start and Improve Your Business	Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) is a programme that has been developed by the ILO as a tool to meet management needs of SMEs. To build the capacity of entrepreneurs, the programme has designed do-it-yourself training packages that match their different levels of competency. The SIYB kit is aimed at people with concrete business ideas who want to start their own business. The SYIB programme has been introduced in more than 80 countries.	Link
School-to-Work Transition Surveys	The School-to-Work Transition Survey (SWTS) is a statistical tool designed by the ILO to assist countries in improving the design of youth employment policies and programmes. Specifically, the survey allows for analysis of both quantitative and qualitative variables that define the relative ease or difficulty of young people’s transition from school-to work life. Among such variables are young people’s education and training experience; their perceptions and aspirations in terms of employment; the job search process, barriers to and supports for entry into the labour market; the preference for wage employment or self-employment; attitudes of employers towards hiring young workers; working conditions and earnings.	Link