A/HRC/40/31 7. Young people today face a difficult and long process in entering the labour market. The global recession has left its mark and, after falling for some years, youth unemployment rates are once again on the rise. ILO estimates that the global youth unemployment rate was 13.1 per cent in 2017, and will rise in 2018.7 8. While finding employment is a major concern, the quality of jobs is just as salient a challenge. In emerging economies and developing countries, many young people who have found employment are unable to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Often, their jobs are informal, and thus they have limited legal and social protection. Recent data suggest that 76 per cent of working youth are in informal jobs, compared with 57 per cent of working adults. 8 In high-income and developed countries, there is a disproportionate presence of young people in temporary employment. 9. To increase their chances of employment and gain the necessary experience, young people often accept unpaid internships, which exclude de facto the most marginalized who cannot afford to work without remuneration. In this regard, various youth organizations, including the European Youth Forum, have called upon States to ban unpaid internships since they discriminate against young people from poorer sectors of society. Unpaid internships are effectively blocking some young people from entering certain careers, hampering social mobility and reinforcing existing inequalities. 10. Entrepreneurship has the potential to provide young people with real employment possibilities and opportunities, especially in sectors such as the digital economy. Globally, young people are 1.6 times more likely than older adults to become entrepreneurs. 9 As young people face delayed entrance to the labour market, Governments are focusing on promoting youth entrepreneurship. However, Governments that focus excessively on encouraging youth entrepreneurship and fail to stimulate wider employment and job creation through broader and robust employment policies risk, in effect, to unfairly shift much of the responsibility for job creation onto young people. 11. Although young people are more likely than adults to start their own businesses, they face a host of special challenges that vary across countries and regions. The obstacles faced by those setting up and running a new business may be intensified for youth, whose age and inexperience can place them at a disadvantage. Young entrepreneurs must also deal with less-than-optimal labour market conditions, characterized in some cases by the widespread use of austerity measures and the effects of economic crises. 10 12. A startling number of young people are not in education, employment or training. At the same time, obsolete education systems are inadequate in meeting the changing and multiple needs of today’s labour market. Inappropriate training translates into limited job prospects for youth, even in situations of economic growth. 13. There is a widening gender gap in accessing labour markets and persistent gender discrimination in conditions of work. For example, the rates of women who are not in education, employment or training are much higher than men: 34.4 per cent globally, compared with 9.8 per cent for males. Young women comprise three out of every four young persons not in education, employment or training, and the disparity is greatest in emerging countries.11 14. Young women face additional barriers in accessing and participating in the labour market, including higher school drop-out rates due to early marriage, pregnancy and sexual violence at school. Moreover, young women spend between 2 to 10 times more time on 7 8 9 10 11 See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.1524.ZS. ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2018. ILO uses the age range 15 to 24 years for youth. Jacqui Kew and others, Generation Entrepreneur? The State of Global Youth Entrepreneurship (London, Youth Business International and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2013). Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and European Commission, “Policy brief on youth entrepreneurship: entrepreneurial activities in Europe” (Luxembourg, Publications Office of the European Union, 2012), p. 20. ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2018, p. 2. 3