Decent Work for Youth - Lost in Globalisation?
Germany

International Open Space on the Ocassion of the World Day for Decent Work, organized by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and DGB Youth Germany.

Jobs are no longer a guarantee for the livelihood of our future generations. The number of young people working in precarious employment relationships is growing, and the number of workers in the informal economy and in contractual employment relationships is on the rise worldwide. More than an estimated 150 million young people in developing countries fall under the category of the working poor, meaning that they live in extreme poverty despite having a job. Even academic education does not assure decent work: highly qualified young people around the globe have to accept underpaid jobs in order to have any income at all.

Youth unemployment has been steadily rising for more than a decade. During the global economic and financial crisis, unemployment figures increased by more than 20 million people. Young people were particularly hit by the consequences of the crisis: at the end of 2009, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) announced that a record number of 81 million young people, aged fifteen to twenty-four, were unemployed. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has alarmingly called the current youth a “lost generation.” Without a global political change that focuses on decent employment, societies are doomed to severe crises.

Young people in Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, and in other countries around the world have shown their willingness to take action to enforce political change. Without significant changes to give them opportunities to earn a decent living, there will be more social and political unrest on the horizon. The International Open Space aims to provide a forum for young activists from trade unions and other organisations from the North and the South to develop ideas on how to relieve the job crisis and formulate concrete demands for action on the national and global level.

What will employment look like in the future? What are socially and ecologically sustainable policy alternatives? How can the young people worldwide mobilise and voice their interests? How can they reach policy makers?

The German Confederation of Trade Union’s youth organisation (DGB Jugend) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) hope to contribute to channelling young people’s interests in the current political debates and build new foundations for decent work together. DGB Jugend and FES are jointly organising an International Open Space and a public debate to support this aim. Furthermore, street campaigns by the DGB will raise public awareness for the issue on 7 October, the World Day of Decent Work.