Psychologists say that the youth has a natural desire to work at an early age. This is caused by the dilemma of teenage transition from childhood to adulthood. They long to be financially independent and self-sufficient from their parents. Because of this, many youth apply for jobs that can give them considerable income to sustain their daily needs.
Nevertheless, current employment trends reveal that the youth sector is badly affected by the looming unemployment crisis. Youth unemployment rate is three times higher than adult unemployment. Research shows that the youth comprise 40% of the 1 billion unemployed people in the world. This indicates that many young people are having a hard time looking for a job which suit their interest and field of expertise.
In order to remedy the youth unemployment crisis, international labor organizations and government agencies are developing youth employment programs. These programs aim to generate jobs for the youth sector. According to economists, an increase in the number of current youth employment will be a significant relief to the overall unemployment crisis in the labor market.
One of the youth employment programs is labor market training. In this aspect, training and career development of institutions are placed side-by-side with the current labor market demand. For instance, the boom of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has led many countries to conduct call center trainings for jobseekers. Some companies implement return to work programs for their employees with a position relevant to call center work. Labor market training helps matching labor market demands to the expertise of existing jobseekers.
Another youth employment project is the promotion of entrepreneurship. In this program, young people are encouraged to engage in small scale business enterprises as an alternative to traditional employment. Trainings are also provided for potential marketers and businessmen. This specifically caters to the young people's aspirations for independence as it combines income generation to business management. Microfinance options are another facet of return to work programs of government agencies and private institutions.
Labor organizations are searching for more ways to solve the youth unemployment crisis. Aside from return to work programs, they are also developing employment services to boost career guidance in educational institutions. In addition, they are making employment websites to intensify dissemination of labor market information to the young people.