Asia-Pacific governments may face waves of youth unrest, crime and vandalism if they fail to reduce the number of unemployed youngsters, which has reached 'unprecedented' heights, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned on Wednesday.

What the region needs are innovative education programmes that train youth with the skills demanded by the labour market, ILO officials added during the opening of a three-day meeting here on 'Youth Employment in Asia and the Pacific.

''Governments have to ensure that once the youth come out of the education system, they are employable,'' said Ian Chambers, director of the ILO's East Asia division. ''We have noted there is a clear mismatch between what the education system produces and what the labour market demands.''

He also urged policymakers to take a hard look at some of the established youth training programmes that look good on paper but are wanting in many respects. These include programmes set up in cities like Bangkok that cater to youth of the middle and upper classes, ''who are not totally dependent on it for employment, since they have other options''.

''But the ones (youth) who need training programmes most are the youth who have no access to such initiatives, like those living in Isaan (north-east Thailand),'' Chambers added during a press conference.

Furthermore, governments should not perceive youth as a problem' but as partners of development,'' Saifuddin Abdullah, a member of the UN Secretary General's High-level Panel for the Youth Employment Network, said during a panel discussion.

''Youth participation has to be institutionalised in the government consultation programme seeking answers to unemployment.''

High and rising

Jobless youth in Asia and the Pacific make up over 50 percent, or some 33 million young people, of the global figure of the 66 million young men and women who are unemployed, states a conference document.

Of that number, some countries in the region — both developing and developed — have been flagged by the UN labour agency as having 'high and rising' unemployed youth.

They include Sri Lanka, with 29 percent unemployment among its youth, the Philippines, with 25 percent, South Korea, with 15 percent, and recession-plagued Japan, with almost 10 percent.

Youth are more adversely affected by unemployment than adults, explains San Yuenwah, social affairs officer at the social development section of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap).

''Youth unemployment tends to be three to four times higher than non-youth unemployment,'' San said.

''In fact, unemployment rates are generally higher for the more educated than those who are less educated, (and) in most developing countries of the region, unemployment is mainly an urban phenomenon,'' San added.

Experts also touched on the equally disturbing underemployment indicators in the region. According to Chambers, underemployment is widespread among youth in the agricultural sectors in South-east Asia.''Despite their potential, they only work during the planting and harvesting season.''

Along with the worrisome unemployment picture for young people, the ILO also pointed to the predicted increase in the region's population, which will compound the ''ballooning unemployment'' problem and is threatening to undermine development in the continent.

''By 2010, the global youth population is expected to grow by 116 million, or 11 percent, reaching almost 1.2 billion — with two-thirds of this growth in Asia and Pacific region,'' states an ILO background note.

Psychological impact

Apart from focusing on the statistical part of the unemployment problem, labour experts also discussed the psychological impact of youth unemployment and underemployment.

''Unemployment has severely damaging effects on young people,'' said San. ''They suffer low self-esteem, exclusion from mainstream society and impoverishment.''

In fact, the South-east Asian economic meltdown in 1997 threw up numerous cases of affected youth, since they were the first to be fired during this crisis. ''Wage cuts, job insecurity affect youth in times of crises,'' Chris Chamberlin of the World Bank said.

While ILO experts, among others, hope to come up with sound models to help national policymakers battle unemployment, they cannot ignore the Asia's current indicators because of the role that economic growth plays in creating jobs.

The Asian Development Bank predicts that the region's economy will grow by 1 to 1.5 percent this year, a result of Japan's recession and low growth in the US economy in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks in New York and Washington. ''Without growth, it will be difficult to make headway on employment,'' said Chamberlin.

But Chambers says Asian officials can factor dire economic forecasts into their plans: ''It is a way to alert decision-makers to avoid mistakes made during and after the 1997 crisis, like taking decisions adverse to youth and not paying attention to the way they were affected.'' (IPS)