Sources of and Solutions to Youth Unemployment and Employment Problems in the New Market Economies; Evidence from Central Asia
Sources of and Solutions to Youth Unemployment and Employment Problems in the New Market Economies; Evidence from Central Asia

Summary/Abstract: Ken ROBERTS, Lyazat KOZHAMKULOVA, Aikanysh ABULGAZİEVA, Kurbanov FIRDAVSİY, Jochen THOLEN This paper reports findings from surveys in 2006 of matched samples totalling 61 enterprises from old and new business sectors and 1402 of their young (aged up to 30) employees in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) and Samarkand (Uzbekistan). The evidence is used to interrogate three possible explanations of the high levels of youth unemployment and under-employment that are proving persistent in all CIS countries (and elsewhere in East-Central and Western Europe). The explanations are: i. Weak labour demand relative to supply, ii. Mismatches between the skills and knowledge imparted in education and the requirements of firms in expanding business sectors, and iii. ‘Partial Americanisation’ – the expansion of general/academic upper secondary schooling and higher education without complementary changes in firms’ approaches to youth recruitment and training, or in young people’s career expectations and ambitions. We argue that the evidence justifies rejecting the mismatch hypothesis and amending the others. The problems associated with partial Americanisation appear most likely to prove temporary because the circumstances created are encouraging businesses and their young employees to take corrections actions. The weak labour demand hypothesis is supported not just because, inevitably, shortfalls in demand have left young people unemployed, but also because a local context of expanding and profitable businesses appears necessary to foster the confidence and optimism to lead firms to invest in their workforces, and young people to invest in order to boost their own employability and career prospects.

• Details
• Contents