A/HRC/39/33 limited. Equal opportunities to participate beyond electoral processes at various stages of legislative and policy decision-making not only is a matter of rights but also has the potential to strengthen legitimacy, accountability and, ultimately, the quality of decisions made. Existing participatory decision-making mechanisms should be improved and new ones explored in order to offer the possibility to think beyond traditional voting, and to make better use of information and communications technologies to ensure the equal participation of young people. Those mechanisms should be accessible and include young women and men from all backgrounds and take into account how intersecting forms of discrimination affect the ability of all youth to participate, in particular youth with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex youth and young migrants, as well as minority and indigenous groups and young people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. 39. Regardless of whether appropriate rules are in place to allow for young people’s meaningful participation in politics, the current widespread lack of quality citizenship education has the potential to severely hinder young people’s prospects for political participation in democratic processes. Therefore, youth participation in decision-making processes should also be supported through investment in education. At the same time, efforts to increase young people’s participation must go alongside more gender equality in representative bodies.16 B. From education to decent work: youth employment 40. The transition from educational settings to the labour market is critical for youth. Young people worldwide are three times more likely than adults to be unemployed. Working poverty also disproportionately affects youth, with 145 million young workers living in poverty.17 The implementation of the right to work for young people is a serious challenge and a top global concern. 41. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) global employment trends for youth, an estimated 70.9 million young people were unemployed globally in 2017. The latest data show that 76.7 per cent of working youth are in informal jobs, compared with 57.9 per cent of working adults. The proportion of youth neither in employment nor in education or training is estimated at 21.8 per cent. 42. Not only are young people more likely to be unemployed than adults around the world, but employment is also often more precarious for them (e.g. zero-hour contracts), often lacking in quality and access to social protection rights. An example of age-based discrimination faced by young people in gaining access to quality employment is the establishment of a youth minimum wage, a practice which goes against the principle of equal pay for equal work. Some States have set the minimum wage for young people substantially lower than that of the general population, despite indications that, in many States, the legal minimum wage is insufficient to secure an adequate standard of living. Some States have also restricted the social security benefits that young people may receive (see A/HRC/37/32). In its general comment No. 23 (2016) on the right to just and favourable conditions of work, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has indicated that young workers should not suffer wage discrimination, for example being forced to accept low wages that do not reflect their skills. 43. Young women face additional barriers in entering the labour force and gaining access to jobs, including unequal pay for work of equal value, widespread violence and harassment in the workplace and unpaid care work. In addition, as a result of child marriage and adolescent pregnancies, many young women and girls drop out of school and are not able to pursue their careers. 44. The scarcity of entry-level jobs has resulted in the widespread practice of internships or apprenticeships. In many cases, such opportunities do not comply with minimum quality 16 17 Report on the regional consultation on youth and human rights (see footnote 4). See www.ilo.org/global/topics/youth-employment/lang--en/index.htm. 9