阅读理解
Work
and the Young: Generation Jobless
“YOUNG people ought not to be idle (闲置的) . It is very bad
for them," said MargaretThatcher in 1984. She was right: there are few
worse things that society can do to its young than to leave them ignored.
Yet more young people are idle than
ever. The International Labour Organization reports that 75m (m=million) young
people globally are looking for a job. World Bank surveys suggest that 262m
young people are economically inactive. The number of young people without a
job is nearly as large as the population of America (311m).
Two factors play a
big part. First, the long slowdown in the West has reduced demand for labour,
and it is easier to put off hiring young people than it is to fire older
workers. Second, inemerging economies population growth is the fastest in
countries with disordered labour markets, such as India and Egypt.
One possible way to settle this problem
is to stimulate growth. That is easier said than done in a world suffering from
debt, and is anyway a possible answer. The countries where the problem is worst
(such as Spain and Egypt) suffered from high youth unemployment even when their
economies were growing. Throughout the recession ( 经济不景气)，companies have continued to complain that they cannot find young
people with the right skills. This underlines the importance of two other
solutions: reforming labour markets and improving education.
Youth unemployment is often at its
worst in countries with inflexible labour markets. High taxes on hiring, strict
rules about firing, high minimum wages: all these help force young people to
the street corner. South Africa has some of the highest unemployment, in part
because it has powerful trade unions and inflexible rules about hiring and
firing. Many countries with high youth unemployment rate have high minimum
wages and heavy taxes on labour. India has around 200 laws on work and pay.
Across the OECD (经合组织) , people who
left school at the earliest opportunity are twice as likely to be unemployed as
university graduates. But it is unwise to conclude that governments should
simply continue increasing the number of people who graduate from university.
In both Britain and the United States many people with arts degrees are finding
it impossible to get appropriate jobs. In North Africa university graduates are
twice as likely to be unemployed as non-graduates.
What matters is not just number of
years of education people get, but its content. This means expanding the study
of science and technology and closing the gap between the world of education
and the world of work-for example by upgrading vocational education and
by building closer relations between companies and schools. Germany, which has
the second lowest level of youth unemployment in the rich world, owns
long-history system of vocational schooling and apprenticeships (学徒制).
The problem of youth unemployment has
been getting worse for several years. But there are at last some reasons for
hope. Governments are trying to address the mismatch between education and the
labour market. Companies are beginning to take more responsibility for the
young. The world has a real chance of introducing an education-and-training
revolution worthy of the solution to the problem.
