Youth Transitions and Leadership
“Young persons go through diverse transitions between the ages of 15 and 29. In this paper, the authors explore patterns of reproductive, educational and school to work transitions using data from the ILO School-to-work transitions surveys mainly from low and middle income countries. They find that these transitions are highly interrelated and have important consequences for future pathways or trajectories. The paper also explores specific transitions with conclusions as follows: First, the reproductive transitions (having children) affects more women than men. Second, 86% of those that stopped studying, either because they dropped out or they have completed their educational transition, have only basic education. Third, the age of starting a first job seem to have significant impact on future labor market prospects as those who started working before 18 are more likely to stay in informal and low-skilled jobs. Youth employment policy design can incorporate these findings with interventions that target the multiple transitions in an integrated manner while promoting youth participation with the understanding that the relative weight of each transition depends on contextual and personal characteristics.”
ILO, January 17, 2020: “Youth transitions and lifetime trajectory,” by Juan Chacaltana, Sara Elder and Miso Lee (45 pages, PDF)
Transition from school to work remains a difficult process for youth
“The transition into adulthood is an exciting time for many young women and men, bringing with it the prospect of social and economic independence. However, finding employment remains difficult for many youth, especially for young women. ... The school-to-work transition indicators have hence been designed to give a more detailed classification and help understand better young people’s transition path in the labour market.”
“The school-to-work transition stages indicator classifies youth into three groups according to their current state:
Transited
In transition
Transition not yet started”
“An analysis of the school-to-work transition for 60 countries highlights that young men are more likely to complete the transition process ... young women are less likely than young men to have begun their transition into the labour market. ... The significant differences by sex suggest that women face additional hurdles in their labour market transition, either at the end of their education or during their studies.”
“These differences may be explained – at least partially – by persistent gender gaps in access to decent jobs. In some parts of the world, young women’s access to the labour market continues to be limited, leading to large shares of women remaining out of the labour force altogether. It also happens that in many countries young women tend to remain in education longer than young men – possibly also as a consequence of their more limited labour market opportunities – which can delay their entry into the labour market. ... Among young people still in transition, the pattern varies greatly across countries and tends to depend on national income level.”
ILO, January 16, 2020: “Transition from school to work remains a difficult process for youth,” by Quentin Mathys
ILO Stat, October 2019: “From school to work An analysis of youth labour market transitions,” by Quentin Mathys (11 pages, PDF)