Youth Employment in Developing Countries : Background paper prepared under Service Contract DCI-EDUC/2012/310-255

The aim of this paper is to identify the key challenges in relation to youth employment in developing countries and provide recommendations on how EU development cooperation could support the youth employment agenda. It starts with a general discussion of the main reasons why youth employment challenges matter for development and a comprehensive description of common trends and key differences in youth employment outcomes across developing regions (Section 2). The determinants of youth employment outcomes and main challenges by region are discussed in Section 3. Section 4 discusses relevant policy measures and lessons from existing policies and programs. After a brief mapping of the international policy framework on youth employment in Section 5, the paper ends with conclusions and recommendations in Section 6.