III Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2011

Unemployment  is a social and economic phenomenon which means that the part of a labor (economically active population) is not engaged in manufacturing of the goods and services.

  Nowadays the financial crisis has shaken world economic system and become the main cause of mass firing and lacking of work places. The specialists with high qualification become unemployed; the competition in the labor market is too high and too strong so it leads to the complication of the youth unemployment problem. To recognize the depth of the problem it is necessary to shed the light on the theoretic aspects.

   Firstly, the groups of youth unemployed must be defined.   Each of these groups has its own needs, knowledge, skills and can get their own promotion. 

 They are: 1.Young specialists with higher education; 2. Graduates of technical schools with the special secondary education; 3.Youth without any special education;

   The problem of young specialists consists of lacking some experience: they don´t know exactly how to work and they´re afraid of making serious decisions which are required. They try to adapt and to learn not just to do their work but to interact with colleagues, partners; to work in a team; to be responsible for their activity. But, firstly, not all employers want young specialists to work for them. Yes, they´re full of inspiration, creativity, energy but sometimes they are less responsible and less experienced. Secondly, the shortage of workplaces (during the crisis) assumes the competition among youth and experienced employees. Thirdly, sometimes specialists don´t want to start at the lowest positions (but nowadays they agree to any).

   The same is for the second group. And another problem is that they can´t be promoted to higher positions. But sometimes graduates of special technical schools are more experienced than youth with higher education because they get more practice meanwhile specialists with higher education are theorists.

   But the main problem is the unemployment of youth without any education. There are teenagers who have to work. The reasons may be not just the lack of education but family  problems, the attempt to earn money for the education so these young people don´t have enough time or money to study. And when they are fired, they can´t find any job because the competitive advantage - education -is absent. Of course the psychological factor plays an important role too. People with great desire to work, skills and energy will find place more quickly than youth without it. But there are situations where both of them can´t find a job.

   The population of developing countries is rising rapidly and the youth group makes the essential part in the its structure.   For example, Africa has the fastest-growing and the youngest population in the world. Over 20 percent of Africa´s population is between the ages of 15 to 24. According to the International Labour Office, youth make up as much as 36 percent of the total working-age population and three in five of Africa´s unemployed are youth. Thus, constantly growing number of youth unemployment is one of the greatest problems of Africa. The combination of the population´s growth is connected with a high level of birth rate and slow rates of creation of workplaces in Africa. Despite of annual rates of economic growth in 6% or more in the countries of Africa to the sub-Sahara last years, there was no sufficient increase in stable workplaces for youth. In the majority of the African countries it is not enough or not an official opportunity of employment for youth. Though the official rate of unemployment is rather low but it´s not true. Those from a workforce want to work, but have no opportunities to find stable employment.

    The point is that the majority of the youth lives in small towns and villages, in the fringes, where the rate of poverty is too high, they don´t have conditions for normal secondary education and working in the housekeeping and agricultural segments. The youth strives to leave native places and moves to the central cities which grow dynamically. They are looking for a way to change there position, to get education, to overcome poverty, but there is no place for them...Fairly only a few number of young people can make a way to the higher position in society, " go away from the poverty".  Others work at the lowest positions like sweepers, loaders, etc. And another part is unemployed - they "are hanging in the air" - don´t want to go home where there is no perspective and they can´t find any job in the town. Hence they occupy the "unsafe regions" of the city and consequences are the petty crime, unstable situation in the country.

Youth unemployment creates instability in the social and economic spheres and leads to the riots and revolts. The consequence of youth unemployment is the brain drain and just migration of the promising specialists.  So, this problem demands an immediate solution both at the level of the government and business.