One third of the youth are optimistic about the future

The World Economic Forum (WEF) echoes a survey carried out by the International Labour Organization (ILO), highlighting how more than a third of young people see the future with optimism, despite having suffered more severely some of the impacts caused by the Covid-19 crisis, such as the loss of opportunities or the disruption of the labor market and their academic situation.

The survey carried out among young people aged 18 to 29 in more than 112 countries is the base of the ILO report “Global Survey on Youth & COVID-19”, according to which young people are committed and have the goal of building a post-Covid future better for all, safer, inclusive and equal. 

In this sense, it is remarkable that the majority of the young people surveyed supported the lockdown as a way to protect workers and businesses. In addition, over one in four made donations and actively engaging in volunteerism in response to the Covid-19 crisis. 

All this despite the fact that academically and from the labor market perspective their situation has been negatively affected, as some data from the OIT´s report shows:

• 65% of young people reported having learnt less since the onset of the pandemic, 51% believed their studies would be delayed, while 9% thought that they might fail.
• One in six young people surveyed have stopped working since the pandemic and more than half of workers reporting a partial reduction in working hours saw their incomes fall.

To prevent these impacts becoming long-lasting, the report provides several recommendations: adoption of specific employment policies that guarantee decent jobs and adequate training for young people, increasing social protection and unemployment benefits in this group, strengthening the online training or providing more psychosocial support services.