Youth unemployment rate 'to dip' in 2011

Youth unemployment numbers are expected to dip slightly in 2011 compared to a year ago, but current economic uncertainty could spell "many more difficult years ahead" for young people, the UN labour agency warned on Wednesday. "The ILO projects a slight decline in youth unemployment to 74.6 million in 2011 from 75.1 million in 2010, and a miniscule decline in the youth unemployument rate from 12.7 to 12.6 percent," said the International Labour Organisation in a report. "However, heightened uncertainty in economic growth, coupled with the greater sensitivity of youth rates to the business cycle, means the recovery for young people is highly uncertain". "This could mean many more difficult years ahead for young people," it added. Young people who managed to find work are increasingly finding themselves with part-time contracts. Between 2007 and 2010, part-time employment rate among young people rose by 17 points in Ireland, 8.8 points in Spain and 5.2 points in Britain. The ILO warned that the abysmal employment situation for youths may result in what it termed "scarring" whereby the generation is subject not only to joblessness, "but also possible longer term consequences in terms of lower future wages and distrust of the political and economic system." "Increased crime rates in some countries, increased drug use, moving back home with the parents, depression -- all of these are common consequences for a generation of youth that, at best, has become disheartened about the future and at worst, has become angry and violent," it said.