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News

Young Peruvians speak out on jobs crisis

The ILO is holding global youth consultations that will culminate in a major Youth Employment Forum in Geneva in May, with some one hundred young people from employers’, workers’ and youth organizations from across the world taking part.

News | 05 April 2012

Lima (ILO News) - Youth representatives from different sectors gathered on 23 March at the ILO office for the National Youth Employment event, organized jointly with the Ministry of Labour and the Regional Programme for the Promotion of Dialogue and Social Cohesion in Latin America.

The consultation was held to give young people an opportunity to express their concerns on the jobs crisis and discuss solutions for the promotion of decent work in the country.

The youth unemployment rate is almost three times higher than the number for adults. There are over 441 000 unemployed young people in Peru, representing two thirds of the national unemployment figures.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion of Peru, more than one million young people don’t have access to a proper education and decent work.

Peru has 8.2 million young people between the ages of 15 and 29 years of age. Four million are currently working in precarious conditions.

In Latin America and the Caribbean the youth urban unemployment rate is at 14.9% and around 5% for adults.

Worldwide, 75 million youth are unemployed and more than 150 million young people are living on less than $1.25 a day.

The consultation in Lima is among 46 national events organized by the ILO around the world throughout March and April 2012 to hear young people’s views on the alarming youth employment situation.

For more information, contact the ILO Programme on Youth Employment at youth@ilo.org, or the ILO Department of Communication and Public Information on +4122/799-7912, or at communication@ilo.org.