Call for Papers: Youth Employment Research Forum

The Forum will bring together researchers from across the globe, which are advancing the frontiers of knowledge on youth employment and contributing to the evidence base. Tagging to the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition of the ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024.

Theme

• The research themes selected for discussion at the Research Forum have in common their exploration of “the dynamics of youth employment and its supporting policy framework”.
• This means building the evidence base on what has changed in the realm of youth employment over the past two decades to help explain the current and future circumstances of labour market entry and job outcomes for young people.

Tracks

• The Forum will cover three research tracks as follows:
  • Track 1: The changing socioeconomic landscapes of youth employment
    • This track seeks papers that investigate the influence of the socioeconomic context on youth employment outcomes. Papers might discuss the effects of macroeconomic fragility, multiple crises, poverty, institutional gaps (such as those embedded in the rule of law or the fundamental principles and rights at work), as well as the limitations of structural transformation and economic growth, and more.
    • Tags: macroeconomics, economic growth, development, structural transformation, crisis, fragility, globalization, poverty, working poverty, politics, governance, freedom of association, labour unions, collective bargaining, social dialogue, inequality
  • Track 2: Future of work influences on youth labour market transitions
    • This track welcomes papers that investigate how various “mega trends” of the future of work are driving changes in the supply of and demand for young workers. Papers might address elements of technological, environmental, demographic and globalization changes as determinants of youth labour market outcomes. Specifically,
      • On the demand-side, papers might highlight the technology-linked emergence and destruction/creation of occupations and sectors (the influence of AI, for instance), demand shifts related to demographic trends or climate or environmental/green influences including in support of a Just Transition, shifts in trade patterns and global supply chains, and much more.
      • On the supply side and intermediation, papers might examine changes in the returns to education, the marketization of educational institutions, discrimination and social exclusion, “delayed adulthood” and much more.
    • Tags: future of work, AI, digitalization, ageing, climate change, technology, just transition, trade, supply chains, education, university, mismatch, migration, brain drain
  • Track 3: The changing youth employment policy landscape
    • This track seeks papers that examine trends in the design and implementation of youth employment policies as well as evaluations of policy outcomes (links to “what works”). Papers might look at the application of youth guarantees, shifts in policy focuses over time (supply-side to demand-side policies, for example, or increased attention to NEETs as policy target), targeted versus integrated policy approaches, and more.
    • Tags: labour market policy, youth guarantees, activation, targeting, inclusion, cost-benefit, monitoring frameworks.

Fees and Expenses

• There will be no fee for conference participants. Travel costs must be met from participants’ own resources, although fellowships will be available for authors of selected papers who are from and reside in developing or emerging countries.

Fellowships

• The ILO, the IDRC and INCLUDE are committed to creating an environment for global research dialogue, especially between developed and developing countries. To this end, numerous fellowships have been put aside to support researchers from and residing in developing or emerging countries, with a particular focus on young researchers below the age of 35 years.
• Interested researchers are strongly encouraged to indicate their interest to be considered for a Fellowship at the time of submission of the paper abstracts.
• Successful applicants will receive fellowship grants of an amount determined by the estimated cost of travel and other expenses. In the case of multiple authors, only one author will be granted the fellowship.

Forum Details

• Forum date and place: 5-6 December 2023, Geneva, Switzerland.
• Language: Proposals and presentations should be submitted in English. The Research Forum will be held in English only.

For more information, visit ILO.