Record global youth unemployment level in 2013. - The global youth unemployment rate stood at 12.6% in 2013 and is close to the record levels of the global economic and financial crisis, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its latest report, published recently, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013. This rate stood at 12.7% in 2009 and then fell slightly (12.3% in 2011 and 12.4% in 2012). According to the estimates, 73.4 million young people were unemployed in 2013, a 3.5 million increase since 2007 and 0.8 million above the 201 level. The rise in youth unemployment and falling employment rates contributed to a fall in the global ratio of youth employment compared to the rest of the population, to 42.3% in 2013, as opposed to 44.8% in 2007. According to ILO projections, the global youth employment ratio compared to the rest of the population is expected to be around 41.4% in 2018. - Developed economies and the European Union: in the developed economies and the EU as a whole there has been little progress achieved since 2009 in reducing youth unemployment. The youth unemployment rate was at a 18.1% in 2012, the same level as in 2010, the highest in the region over the past two decades. On current projections, the youth unemployment rate in the developed economies and the EU will not drop below 17% before 2016. Between 2008 and 2012, youth unemployment increased by more than two million in the advanced economies, a rise of almost 25%. From 2008 to 2010, the proportion of young people not in employment, education or training in the youth population, the “NEET” rate, increased by 2.1 percentage points to reach 15.8% as an average of OECD countries. This means one in six young people were without a job and not in education or training. The youth unemployment crisis in advanced economies is also reflected in longer job search periods and lower job quality. In the majority of OECD countries, one-third or more of young jobseekers are unemployed for at least six months. In Europe, an increasing proportion of employed youth are involved in non-standard jobs, including temporary employment and part-time work, and evidence shows that a significant part of the increase is involuntary rather than by choice. Youth part-time employment as a share of total youth employment in Europe was 25% in 2011. Another 40.5% cent of employed youth in the region worked on temporary contracts. - Developing regions: regional youth unemployment rates vary sharply in developing regions. In 2012, youth unemployment reached its high point in the Middle East and North Africa and stood at 28.3% and 23.6% respectively. In East Asia it was 9.5% and South Asia (9.3%) where it was lowest. Between 2011 and 2012, regional youth unemployment rates increased in all regions apart from Central Europe and Southeast Europe (outside the EU), as well as the Community of Independent States (CIS), Latin America and the Caribbean, south east Asia and the Pacific. Encouraging trends were demonstrated in some countries such as Azerbaijan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The ILO points out that youth unemployment rates are expected to remain at the same level or increase in all regions between 2012 and 2014, with the exception of the advanced economies and Sub-Saharan Africa. The NEET rate among the young is high in certain developing regions for which figures are available. In Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, this rate was estimated to be around 19.8% in 2008. Combined with the problem of youth unemployment is another issue: in some regions of the world, it is mainly young women who suffer from the lack of available jobs, according to one expert. Unemployment levels among young women are particularly high in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). In Latin America, unemployment among young women is 17% as opposed to 11% for young men. The MENA region holds the record for unemployment among young women - 44% in 2012, practically double the rate for young men, at 23%. (IL)