The International Labor Organization (ILO) said the global recession has created – what it calls – a generation of “scarred” youth. It says frustration in finding good jobs has contributed to protests movements around the world.
国际劳工组织表示，全球经济衰退已经创造出该组织所谓的“受伤一代”年轻人。
ILO economist Steve Kapsos said this scarred generation of young workers continues to grow.
国际劳工组织的经济学家史蒂夫·卡普索斯说，“受伤一代”年轻工作者的人数在持续增加。
“If you look globally at the number of unemployed youth around the world (it) has increased dramatically as a result of the global economic crisis. We estimate that there’s about 4.6 million more unemployed youth today than in 2007,” he said.
他说：“全球经济危机导致的后果，你放眼全球可以看到，失业的年轻人在世界范围内大幅度增加。我们估计现在失业的年轻人比2007年的时候增加了大约4百60多万人。”
And they face short and long term challenges.
而且这些年轻人面临着短期或长期的挑战。
“Young job seekers are having to queue, wait, longer periods of time, before securing their first employment opportunity. The wages that they receive when they enter the labor market are lower than they otherwise would have been. And this really sets them off on a lower trajectory in terms of their employment and their careers,” he said.
卡普索斯说：“年轻的求职者现在确保他们第一次就业机会之前，必须得排队，等候比以往更长的时间。他们进入劳工市场后所得的报酬，也比他们原本应该得到的要低。这的确让他们在就业和职场上处于一种低水准的状况。”
Differences
Not all young unemployed or under employed are alike. Kapsos says there a difference between those in developed and developing nations.
不是所有年轻失业者或等待就业者的情况都一样。卡普索斯表示，发达国家和发展中国家的这些年轻人，情况有所不同。
“In developed economies, the challenge is really one of generating employment, lowering unemployment rates. In developing regions, it’s really the quality of employment, the productivity of employment where we see large numbers of young people living below the poverty line,” he said.
他说：“在发达经济体中，挑战主要是创造就业，降低失业率。在发展中国家，挑战主要是就业的质量，工作的生产率，我们在那些国家看到大量年轻人生活在贫困线以下。”
In sub-Saharan Africa, economic conditions differ from many other developing regions. That’s because it has fared a bit better during the recession.
在非洲撒哈拉以南地区，经济条件又和其他发展中国家有所不同，这是因为这个地区在全球衰退期间，境遇要相对好一些。
Kapsos said, “If you look at the unemployment rate in the sub-Saharan African region, our estimates show very little change during the global economic crisis. It’s really not an issue of unemployment in the region. It’s one of low productivity employment. We estimate in the countries for which we have data, about a quarter of young people around the world in developing countries are among the working poor. They’re working, but they’re living below the $1.25 poverty line. The figures in many sub-Saharan African countries are much higher than that.”
卡普索斯说：“如果你看撒哈拉以南非洲地区的失业率，我们的预计显示在全球经济危机期间，那里的失业率几乎没有什么变化。失业不是那个地区的问题。那里是属于就业工作生产率很低的地区。我们从掌握相关数据的一些国家的情况估计，世界发展中国家大约四分之一的年轻人都属于工作贫困型。他们在工作，但是他们生活在每天1.25美元的贫困线以下。这个比例在很多撒哈拉以南国家要高得多。”
Also, sub-Saharan African countries have had faster growth rates in recent years than many other regions. Kapsos says while that offers some hope for young workers, there are still some underlying problems.
同时，撒哈拉以南国家近年来的发展速度比其他很多地区要快。卡普索斯表示，尽管这为当地的年轻工作者带来了一些希望，但是仍然有一些潜在的问题。
“If you look at the sources of growth, a lot of it is commodities based. A lot of it is the extractives industry. And those are very capital intensive. They’re not labor intensive. So, there is a real challenge in terms of generating employment in the formal sector, formal wage employment, that can really lift people out of poverty,” he said.
他说：“如果你看这些经济增长的来源，会看到大量的增长是基于矿产品，其中大量增长来自采掘工业。这些工业是资本密集型的产业，而不是劳动密集型产业。因此，要努力在可以提供正常报酬的领域增加就业机会，而那些领域和部门才是能够真正让人们脱贫的。”
Not meeting demand
The ILO economist said a big reason for the high youth unemployment rate in the world is a skills mismatch. Young workers don’t have the skills needed for the jobs that are available.
这位国际劳工组织的经济学家表示，世界年轻人高失业率的一个主要原因在于技能不匹配。年轻人不具备胜任已有工作的技能。
Kapsos said education is one solution and improvements in education have occurred. But he says there are often wide education and skill gaps between men and women in developing countries.
卡普索斯说，教育是其中的一条解决之道，教育改进已经在进行。但是他表示，在发展中国家，男女之间通常存在很大的教育和技能差异。
Will things improve for young people when the global recession finally ends? Kapsos said not right away because labor markets typically lag behind the overall economic recovery.
当全球衰退结束之后，年轻人的境遇是否会改善呢？卡普索斯表示，不会立即改善，因为劳工市场通常都滞后于整体经济的复苏。
“When we’re talking about youth, it’s even worse than adults in terms of a delayed labor market recovery. Young people are often the first to be let go in an economic downtown, and they’re often the last ones to get back into the labor market and to secure employment when things pick up,” he said.
他说：“当我们谈论年轻人，他们与成年人相比，在滞后的劳工市场复苏方面所处的境遇更糟糕。在经济下滑的时候，年轻人通常是最早被解雇的，当经济回暖的时候，他们又是最后回到劳工市场的一批人。”
The International Labor Organization findings can be found in its new report Global Employment Trends for Youth: 2011 Update.
国际劳工组织的研究结果可以在该组织最新的全球青年就业趋势报告2011年更新版中找到。 |