NEW DELHI: At least 41 lakh youth in the country lost jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic while construction and farm sector workers account for the majority of job losses, according to a joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)., released Tuesday.
According to the report, employment prospects for youth in Asia and the Pacific are severely challenged due to the pandemic. Youth (15-24 years) will be hit harder than adults (25 and older) in the immediate crisis and risk-bearing higher longer-term economic and social costs, the report added.
It further noted that in India, two-thirds of firm-level apprenticeships and three quarters of internships were completely interrupted during the pandemic. The report calls on governments to adopt urgent and targeted measures to generate jobs for the youth, keeping education and training on track, and to minimise future scarring of more than 660 million young people.
Even before the COVID-19 crisis, youth in Asia and the Pacific faced challenges in the labour market. In 2019, the regional youth unemployment rate was 13.8 per cent, compared to three per cent for adults; and more than 160 million youth (24 per cent of the population) were not in employment, or education. “The pre-crisis challenges for youth are now amplified since Covid-19 hit. Without sufficient attention, our fear is that this risks creating a ‘lockdown generation’ that could feel the weight of this crisis for many years to come,” said Sara Elder, head of the ILO Regional Economic and Social Analysis unit.