About 39 million people ages 16 to 29 across the globe were not employed and were not participating in any kind of education or training in 2013. That’s 5 million more than before the economic crisis of 2008, a new OECD report stresses, and 2014 predictions don’t look much better. In many cases, these young adults were not actively trying to find work or pursue an education, possibly dropping out of their country’s education, social and labor market systems.
Too many young people leave school without any real work experience or the necessary skills for a productive career, the report says. And when students actually find jobs, they’re often overqualified. The report says that governments across the globe need to do more to identify the millions of students who have become disengaged. Education providers and the business sector have to form better partnerships in order to accurately reflect the skills that new graduates need.
Following are some more U.S. specific details:
- Young people face difficulties in their transition from school-to-job. One in six 15-29 year-olds was not in employment, education or training (NEET) in 2013 in the United States, which is a higher probability than on average in OECD countries.
- To achieve better labor market outcomes for youth, the country should upskill young people and continue to reform education systems. Among the group of countries covered by the Survey of Adult Skills, the United States has among the highest share of youth with low cognitive skills in the three domains covered by the survey.
- As socio-economic economic background has a stronger impact on young people’s numeracy skills in the United States than in other countries, policies should aim at making the overall skill development system more inclusive.
- More needs to be done to raise the quality of post–secondary vocational education and training programs, especially by developing work based learning. Cognitive skills of students in these programs are particularly low.
For more information, please visit: http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/oecd-to-launch-new-report-on-skills-and-youth-unemployment-wednesday-27-may-2015-press-conference-in-berlin.htm
