Despite their many assets and talents, more and more young people around the world are finding themselves without jobs or livelihoods. An estimated 66 million young men and women are currently unemployed, representing roughly 40 percent of the world total of 160 million jobless.

Critical to most people’s survival, work also helps define a significant part of who we are and what we can achieve. When the fit is right, work taps our creativity and maximizes our potential, enabling us to contribute to society and to build community with those around us. Unemployment, however, erodes confidence, severs connections, and fuels feelings of alienation. Young people just entering the workforce stand on the threshold of truly finding out who they are and what they can contribute. For those who are unsuccessful, the consequences can be devastating and long-term.

IYF’s focus on youth employment follows several mutually reinforcing tracks. We work with our corporate partners to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to actively participate in the "New Economy" through an emphasis on information technology (IT) skills. Likewise, we provide young people with the professional and "life skills" essential to getting and keeping a job. IYF is also engaged in a far-reaching initiative to improve the lives and future prospects of young adult factory workers; and is collaborating with major global institutions at the policy level to focus greater attention and resources on effective ways to combat youth unemployment worldwide.

Among those IYF-supported initiatives that address youth unemployment are:

• entra 21: a $25 million initiative with the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank to prepare youth in Latin America and the Caribbean for jobs in the information technology field.

• The Alliance for African Youth Employment to help young people in Africa: an $1.8 million initiative with USAID, IYF, Nokia and Lions Clubs International Foundation promote employability and employment for more than 35,000 disadvantaged young people ages 14 to 29 living in rapidly urbanizing areas of South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda.

• Through participation in the UN’s Youth Employment Network, IYF is working with representatives of public, private, and nonprofit sector institutions to advise and support the UN, the World Bank, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) in developing the Secretary General’s initiative on youth employment.