81 million young workers unemployed in 2009

The global financial and economic crisis has spurred a record increase in youth unemployment according to a new report from the International Labour Organisation.

This deeply important structural issue for the UK and many other labour markets is not confined to developed nations. In developing / emerging economies where 90 per cent of young people live, youth are more vulnerable to underemployment and absolute poverty. The ILO reports that 152 million young people, or about 28 percent of all the young workers in the world, worked in 2009 but remained in extreme poverty in households surviving on less than US$1.25 per person per day in 2008.

More here from the Guardian and here is a link to the ILO report on the problems of youth unemployment in the global economy. And a report on long-term youth unemployment in the UK from the Telegraph.