Youth, Unskilled Workers Bear Brunt as Global Unemployment Stays High

 According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the world’s advanced economies will continue to see rising numbers of unemployed people even as overall economic conditions improve. In the recent OECD Employment Outlook 2013 report, the unemployment rate for countries using the euro is predicted to rise from 12.2 percent to 12.3 percent by the end of 2014. Some countries, such as Greece, Spain, and Portugal, are expected to experience much higher unemployment due to their economic troubles.

Some countries of the 34-member OECD, however, are projected to see slightly falling unemployment rates declining from an average 8 percent to 7.8 percent. The U.S. could see unemployment dip to 6.7 percent, down from its current rate of 7.6 percent. Meanwhile, Germany could experience a drop from 5.3 percent to 4.7 percent. The OECD identified young people and low-skilled workers as those who will bear the burden of the highest rates of unemployment.

The report also cautioned that many of the long-term unemployed are at risk of losing their unemployment insurance. In many countries, such benefits are also less than what they used to be due to public spending cuts. In fact, the average spending per job seeker within OECD countries fell about 20 percent since the beginning of the recession. The report claims that only slow labor market reforms will bring gradual improvement to the unemployment problem. Falling back on offers of early retirement was also cautioned against as there is no evidence to suggest such behavior benefits the employment levels of youth.