Youth migration and employment: Perspectives from countries of origin

As with any type of human mobility, drivers of youth migration are multifaceted and often interconnected. This makes it difficult to identify any single cause. However, a combination of recent technological changes, various demographic factors and limited job opportunities are increasingly motivating youth to migrate abroad (Wickramasekara, 2013). Indeed, recent International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates demonstrate that, globally, youth participation in the labour force has been declining since 1999 (ILO, 2020). Young people are also more likely to be underemployed or in precarious jobs (see Economic drivers).

Promoting youth employability in countries of origin at both national and local levels can contribute to reducing youth desire to migrate. When youth are unable to find decent work opportunities in their country of origin, many feel compelled to continue their search abroad, even if it means leaving irregularly. However, being employed is not a sufficient condition to prevent youth migration. Many other socioeconomic factors determine the decision to migrate, such as inclusion, access to health care and education, quality of employment and level of remuneration.

Policy Approaches
Perspectives from origin countries
  • Prohibit child labour and promote decent work for adolescents and youths by strengthening national labour legislation, in line with international labour standards. For instance, enhance the function of labour inspection, and encourage formalizing employment and/or regulating informal work.
  • Improve educational systems and counselling for adolescents (that is, career guidance) during high school and throughout their university studies. These measures can impact aspirations, knowledge and eventual decisions to either migrate or find work in origin countries.
  • Equip students, through the national educational system, with the skills needed today and in the future. Vocational education and training programmes for youth should be geared towards specific employment sectors based on labour market needs.
  • Equip youths with more digital skills so that they are more adaptive and resilient to changes in the labour market.
Good Practice
Rethinking mechanisms and policies to promote local employment
  • In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 16 information, counselling and training centres were established to provide crucial job seeking services to young people aged 15 to 30. This included information on the labour market, education and training opportunities and regular migration. In addition, the service took place via Facebook, where trainings included modules on core employability and life skills, writing a curriculum vitae, preparation for job interviews, information technology and learning a foreign language. Additional services included group and individual employment counselling services and individual employment planning. Six of the centres were included as Public Employment Services and covered by public funds. At the time of writing, the remaining ten centres remained private but were expected to be taken over by the local employment offices in 2013 (International Labour Organization [ILO] Youth Employment and Migration).
  • In Burkina Faso, the unemployment rate is six per cent, but underemployment is also a major concern. There is also a high rate of youth migration, primarily irregular, from the Centre-Est region. To address this, the Ministry of Youth and Professional Development of Burkina Faso initiated a project that aimed to boost local job opportunities for youth. An initial labour market study was conducted in the Centre-Est region to determine the labour demand and available opportunities. Following that, targeted trainings for skills development were created and administered to selected youth (IOM, 2018).
To Go Further
  • International Labour Organization (ILO), Global employment trends for youth 2020: Technology and the future of jobs, 2020: 48.

    This publication contains information on the desire to migrate among young people and its implications for the labour market. It presents an analysis of Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index based on expressed desire on a scale ranging from -100 per cent to infinity (meaning that all 15 to 29 year-olds wish to leave the country).   
  • ILO Academy on Youth Employment.

    The annual two-week Academy is designed to enhance the capacity of decision makers and social partners to develop comprehensive strategies for tackling the multifaceted dimensions of the youth employment challenge.
  • What Works in Youth Employment.

    This     initiative aims to improve labour market outcomes of youth through evidence-based policies and programmes. This is achieved through an iterative cycle of (i) capacity development, (ii) impact research and (iii) policy influence.

Diaspora mentorship programmes and entrepreneurship development

Young people often have the qualities needed to be a successful entrepreneur, such as creativity, inspiration and resilience (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs [UN DESA], 2020). For this reason, entrepreneurship can be a promising alternative livelihood strategy for young people. Those who start businesses and employ other potential migrants or returnees positively increase the number of jobs available in origin countries, while motivating other youth to do the same. Such efforts demonstrate that countries of origin can offer a future for the youth population, reducing the desire to migrate, including through irregular migration (see Labour migration and mobility).

However, young people tend to have limited professional experience, knowledge, training and financial resources. In this regard, partnerships between policymakers, the private sector and the youth population can produce effective and innovative solutions (UN DESA, 2020). Many global corporations are increasingly more willing to support young people in their entrepreneurship ventures, but institutional support is needed to provide an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs, such as access to start-up funds and technology.

Further, governments can set up an effective framework for diaspora engagement, where diaspora members serve as role models and mentors for youth in origin countries and provide financial start-up support and investment for entrepreneurship initiatives (see Diaspora engagement). Diaspora members who are often targeted in these types of interventions typically include professors, teachers or other professionals already engaging with youth. Business owners and professionals working in start-up or business incubation spaces can also provide invaluable information and advice, as well as potentially sponsoring young entrepreneurs on the rise. Diaspora mentorship programmes for youth can additionally help them make well-informed migratory decisions and livelihood choices. Such programmes can arrange for conversations through online platforms as well as in person, during facilitated temporary return (IOM Diaspora Roadmap, 2012).

Good Practice
Initiatives for Enterprise Development Project

Niger is currently implementing the Initiatives for the Enterprise Development (IDEE) project to provide integrated support to 40 microenterprises and start-ups with the aim of boosting youth employability and the local economy. The integrated support provides microcredit and equipment loans, tailored technical trainings and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) incubator backing. IDEE gives 360 young laureates with an entrepreneurial idea the chance to finalize bankable business plans. IDEE also promotes an information campaign promoting local economic opportunities as alternatives to migration.

Source

IOM Niger.

Youth migration and employment: Perspectives from countries of destination

Young migrants are more likely to be working than non-immigrant youth, even when their original reason for entering the country of destination is not employment. Therefore, youth migration – like migration in general – can be drive growth and productivity for countries of destination. However, not all migration policies consider age an important factor. As a consequence, most countries do not have age-sensitive measures for youth to take advantage of, even though migration flows include many youths who are seeking jobs and livelihood opportunities.

Governments can attend to the needs of young people directly in the framework of their migration policies. Specifically, they can ensure that the rights of young migrants are being upheld, and they can address the constraints young migrants face in trying to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration, as well as decent employment. For instance, many young migrant workers may be too old to attend regular secondary (and higher) education or may lack the qualifications to attend vocational training. Their educational credentials may not be recognized, which may result in deskilling, where they are only able to acquire jobs that do not match their level of qualification (International Labour Organization [ILO], 2013).

Policy Approaches
Developing inclusive youth employment strategies
  • Collect data on the presence of youth migrants in the country, along with their working conditions and other characteristics, including demographics, skills and qualifications.
  • Take account of the gender make-up of young migrants as well as their specific needs and potential.
  • Develop mechanisms to assess and recognize educational, technical and vocational qualifications, as well as job experience acquired abroad. This could include, in part, harmonizing employment and training qualifications at regional and international levels.
  • Encourage close coordination between the ministry or institution working with youth and the services in charge of child protection and rights.
  • Include consideration of young migrants in the national education and transition-to-work programmes.
To Go Further
Rural-urban youth migration

Youth are more likely than older migrants to migrate to migrate from rural to urban locations. According to the National Migration Analysis conducted in the Gambia in 2013 by the National Bureau of Statistics, the propensity for internal migration was highest among the 15–29 age group (Gambian Bureau of Statistics [GBOS], 2013). Similar results were found in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal (World Bank, 2011).

The lack of opportunities and decent jobs at origin communities are among the main factors, although not the only ones, influencing youth decisions to migrate (see Youth in the context of migration). Many factors have contributed to poor working conditions, a lack of decent jobs, environmental degradation and extreme weather events in rural communities. These include ineffective rural development policies, and the modernization of the agricultural sector. In many countries, the economic focus has been on developing urban centres, leaving the peripheries of the countries and the rural areas behind (Min-Harris, 2009).

Image / Video

Source

IOM/Amanda Nero, 2016.

As a result, youth see the agricultural sector as a last resort for employment and move to urban areas (Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund [MDG-F], 2013; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2016). They are more likely to establish themselves as entrepreneurs, mainly in the informal sector, though it seems that the longer they stay at their destination, the more likely they are to establish themselves in the formal sector as an entrepreneur (GBOS, 2013). Targeted policies and actions to reduce the credit constraints that migrants first face upon arrival in a new destination area could go a long way in promoting formal employment among youth migrants (Partnership for Economic Policy [PEP], 2015).

While rural–urban migration can offer a way out of poverty to some rural youth, it can also represent the first step toward international migration. Such migration can be irregular, which exposes youth to situations of greater vulnerability. For governments that want to revamp the agricultural sector in their countries and at the same time protect youth at origin communities, there are viable policy options. It is important to modernize and revitalize agricultural sectors in countries where agriculture is one of the main drivers of the economy (FAO, 2016), which would make agriculture a more appealing career path for youth. As well, governments can empower youth in rural areas, providing them with skills, knowledge and technology that could help them find a viable future at home, should they wish to remain. This calls for rural youth to have access to vocational training and education (FAO, 2016).

To Go Further
  • The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Junior Famer Field and Life School (JFFLS).

    This programme aims to empower youth in rural areas, combining support for vocational educational training opportunities with employment promotion.
Good Practice
Rural–urban migration in the Gambia

In the Gambia, rural–urban migration is a concerning phenomenon that has lately attracted the attention of the Government. Most of these internal migrants are in the 15–29 age group. The issue of rural–urban youth migration thus occupies a special chapter of the National Migration Policy in 2018, which aimed to:

  • Closely coordinate the strategies on internal migration with a land-use policy;
  • Provide basic services – such as education, health care and adequate housing – to rural dwellers, so as to increase the attractiveness of rural environments and tackle factors that drive migration;
  • Enhance agricultural productivity and youth participation in agriculture through the low-cost provision of agricultural equipment, as well as through the provision of energy and irrigation systems in areas experiencing high migration pressure.
Key messages
  • In origin countries, promoting youth employability and access to decent jobs through entrepreneurship, diaspora engagement and skills development programmes can play a major role in reducing youth irregular migration.
  • In countries of destination, it would be beneficial for governments to recognize young migrants as agents of productivity and development, and to ensure they are integrated into youth employment policies.
  • Youth directly affected by migration know the realities and challenges of migration. As such, they should be key participants in policymaking processes related to employment, migration and youth empowerment.
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