“Around one in five of the world’s #youth are not in #employment, #education or #training (with young women in this group outnumbering young men two to one) and youth unemployment rates are about 3 times as high as those of adults.

Young people, and especially young #women, are highly #vulnerable since most of them are likely employed in the informal economy and often have low-paid, less secure and less protected #jobs than their male counterparts and are more likely to live in working #poverty. Youth under 18 years old are at risk of increased poverty and of being exposed to child labour, sexual exploitation and child #marriage. With these benchmarks, in times of crisis, young people are highly susceptible to unemployment and greater labour market vulnerabilities.

In addition, some economic policy responses – such as fiscal and monetary policies, bailouts and tax reliefs, mortgage freezes, waivers of interests on student and business loans – are not taking into account young people’s needs and will not reach them directly or in the short term.

Social protection mechanisms that are being implemented in the context of the COVID-19 crisis to safeguard incomes, for example, monetary transfers and extended unemployment benefits, should take into account the specific vulnerabilities faced by youth.”This is part of our statement on COVID-19 and Youth.

Proud to belong to United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (#UN_IANYD) and #CASEC_ACSAC.