Weak recovery creating a lost generation of unemployed youth, says OECD

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — The OECD is urging governments to take swift action to address stubbornly high unemployment, warning the slow recovery is creating conditions that could scar youth and some workers the rest of their lives.

The Paris-based think-tank says the social costs of high levels of youth unemployment in some advanced nations are already large, but the situation threatens to transform from a cyclical to a structural problem.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says governments must do all they can to avoid a lost generation of youth who become disconnected from labour markets.

Not all countries have been affected, but some, like Greece and Spain, have seen youth unemployment rise to above 50 per cent.

Equally concerning is that the duration workers remain unemployed is rising, with 35 per cent of the jobless being out of work for a year or more, and 7.8 million remaining in the OECD area without a job for two years or more.

The think-tank cites Canada as having done a better job on the jobs front, predicting the jobless rate would shrink 6.4 per cent by the end of 2013, or close to its pre-recession levels.

However, the latest Statistics Canada report shows unemployment among the 15-24 year group rose half a point to 14.8 per cent in June, more than twice the national average of 7.2 per cent.

Last week, the agency also reported that Canadian youth were experiencing recession-level conditions on the summer jobs front.

Employment as a percentage of their population among students aged 20-24 was at a level equal to that of June 2009, and among 17-19 year olds, it was at the lowest level since data became available in 1977, the agency said.

11:31ET 10-07-12