PROTOCOL: Interventions to Improve Labour Market Outcomes of Youth: A Systematic Review of Active Labour Market Programmes

Abstract

`There are about 1.2 billion youth worldwide, aged 15 to 24, and nearly 75 million of them are looking for a job (ILO, 2014). Such a sizable youth cohort presents an opportunity for growth but can also become a source of instability if youth unemployment is not addressed by effective interventions. Young men and women have been in the spotlight ever since the hefty impact on youth employment caused by the economic crisis became apparent. The youth unemployment rate saw its largest annual increase between 2008 and 2009: rising from 12 to 12.9 per cent, with youth in industrialized countries being particularly affected. During the same period (2008–2009), youth unemployment rates in developed economies and the European Union (EU) and in Central and South-Eastern Europe (non EU) and Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) increased by 4.1 and 3.2 percentage points, respectively. These are the largest annual increases in youth unemployment rates ever recorded in any region.