What youth need: A greater focus on job quality

Gary Hunt • 30 July 2021

What youth need: A greater focus on job quality

For young people, successful entry into the world of work – that is, successful transition from education to employment – means more than simply finding a job. Successful transition occurs only when young people find decent work. What is actually meant by this has been the subject of much debate for a number of years; but its essence is encapsulated in the ILO’s notion of freely chosen and productive employment.

While it can be hard to define precisely what ‘decent work’ looks like, it is fairly clear what it is not. It is not informal employment. It is not work that provides insufficient income to meet basic needs. It does not involve excessive working time or any form of compulsion. Typically, it does involve some degree of job security, protection from arbitrary dismissal, access to social protection, such as health insurance and pension schemes, and freedom of association.

Ultimately, the failure to act might impact lives literally. Evidence from high-income countries show the deleterious long-term health consequences of early career job loss and poor-quality unstable employment. Such long-run, individual-level evidence is lacking in developing and emerging countries. However, is it not reasonable to suppose that the lack of decent work opportunities – often accompanied by the absence of adequate social safety nets – contribute to the relatively high mortality rates and shorter life expectancies (see Preston Curve) evident in lower income countries?

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Citation. OECD www.oecd.org

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