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The proportion of youth in the urban areas is uniformly higher than in rural areas. As a measure of labour market slack, the unemployment rate is generally not useful in rural areas, especially in countries where no unemployment benefit system exists, since unemployment in the developing world is primarily an urban phenomena. Where unemployment rates for rural areas exist they are almost always much lower than in urban areas. Youth unemployment rates tend to be higher than adult rates in these countries being, on average, twice as high as overall unemployment rate in some African countries.
The relationship between youth unemployment and educational attainment is mixed. In Africa, the unemployment rates for the least and the most educated tend to be lower than for those with intermediate level of education (e.g. South Africa). On the other hand, in Asia, they are generally higher for the more educated than the less educated. This is partly due to the increased participation in education, resulting in a greater number of educated youths. For example, in Indonesia, among the rural male unemployed adolescents (15-19 years old), more than a third have completed primary schooling, more than a third have had a junior high school degree and about a fifthpossess senior high school degree; their female counterparts are slightly better placed in this regard.
Underemployment is the main problem in rural areas. For example, a much higher proportion of underemployed young men, women and persons are found: (1) in rural Indonesia, 45.2, 60.5, and 50.9 per cent respectively, compared with 23.5, 23.8 and 23.7 per cent for their urban counterparts; and (2) in agriculture and allied activities in the Philippines, 52.0, 70.0, and 55.0 per cent respectively, compared with 9.0, 15.0 and 13.0 per cent among service workers, 13.0, 12.0 and 12.0 per cent among production and related workers. In general, for some Asian countries, the proportion of underemployed youth in the rural areas is more than twice as high as in the urban areas.
In comparison with the OECD as well as the transition economies and the Latin American countries, much less empirical work on wages and/or youth unemployment has been undertaken on other developing countries. The main published exceptions are Hoddinott (1996) on Côte d'Ivoire; Dickens and Lang (1995) on Sri Lanka and Schultz and Mwabu (1998) and Moll (1993) on South Africa; Blanchflower (1999b) on the Philippines as well as a new crop of unpublished papers by Rodgers and Nataraj (1998) on Taiwan and Kingdon and Knight (1998) on South Africa.
A number of generalized facts emerge from a set of country studies commissioned by the ILO on the nature of the youth labour market in Asian and African countries:
a. Youth unemployment in most developing countries is perceived as a major problem. In many countries young people constitute a very high proportion of both the total population and total unemployment, comprising more than half the total number of the unemployed in Africa. In many countries the young unemployed are looking for their first job (e.g. India).
b. Inadequate and incomplete data make it hard to know exactly the scale of the problem. Some of the features of the problems related to the data for the purpose of making cross-country comparisons are: (1) cross-country variations in the definition of youth; (2) cross-country variations in measurement of employment, unemployment and underemployment; and (3) country-specific data gathering and survey systems.
In general, Africa is thought to be caught in a number of self-reinforcing, vicious circles:
a. African economies are unable to generate adequate growth rates in GDP and enough employment and income generating opportunities to absorb the majority of their labour forces;
b. The inability of the private sector to generate sustainable livelihoods has given prominence to rivalry over control of the state as a primary means for attempting to share in whatever fruits of the economy that there may be, further exacerbating the possibility of unrest; and
c. The capacity of the state to govern and deliver with respect to social services, such as education, and the security is compromised.
High inflation and restrictive macroeconomic policies have especially harmed youth. The main feature of the African labour market is the slow growth of employment in the formal sector and the retrenchment of labour in the course of implementing structural adjustment. In response, the non-formal sectors have not only acted as residual sectors but also as labour absorbers of last resort. Such structure of wages and unemployment can have some perverse effects on youth:
a. High unemployment rates may discourage youth from investing in education and training as the investment appears wasted;
possess senior high school degree; their female counterparts are slightly better placed in this regard.
Underemployment is the main problem in rural areas. For example, a much higher proportion of underemployed young men, women and persons are found: (1) in rural Indonesia, 45.2, 60.5, and 50.9 per cent respectively, compared with 23.5, 23.8 and 23.7 per cent for their urban counterparts; and (2) in agriculture and allied activities in the Philippines, 52.0, 70.0, and 55.0 per cent respectively, compared with 9.0, 15.0 and 13.0 per cent among service workers, 13.0, 12.0 and 12.0 per cent among production and related workers. In general, for some Asian countries, the proportion of underemployed youth in the rural areas is more than twice as high as in the urban areas.
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