The International Labour Organization (ILO), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation , has launched a new series of policy briefs examining trends and issues in youth employment, including the impact of COVID-19 in seven sub-Saharan African countries.

Using the most recent harmonized labour force survey micro-datasets available on the ILO’s YouthSTATS  database, the briefs outline the youth labour market situation in the seven countries.

By examining specific youth labour market indicators, including the share of young people not in employment, education or training (the NEET rate) and the ILO’s School-to-Work Transition indicators, the briefs assess where progress has or has not been made, as well as examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing detailed analyses of trends and issues facing young people in the labour market in these countries. The briefs pay special attention to assessing the specific labour market situation of young women and young people with disabilities utilizing data from the ILO’s new Disability Labour Market Indicators Database .

The briefs also outline the main youth employment policies and strategies in the seven countries and are available in the Youth Employment Strategies section of the Employment Policy Gateway . Along with reviewing traditional policies and measures aimed at promoting youth employment, the series also looks at youth-sensitive measures in the green and digital economies, as well as at gender and disability mainstreaming.