ManpowerGroup: Engage Unemployed Youth to Ease Talent Shortages

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions and World Economic Forum (WEF) strategic partner, asserts that coordinated action in four key areas is needed to tackle chronic levels of youth unemployment worldwide, with the topic high on the agenda at the WEF Annual Meeting.

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ManpowerGroup recommends targeted actions in: creating jobs and promoting entrepreneurship; helping young people acquire economically relevant skills; assisting youth's workforce entry; and developing national strategies to scale career development programs.

The International Labor Organization projects a global youth unemployment rate of 12.7% by 2017. In the Eurozone, the youth unemployment rate currently stands at 24.4%, up from 15% in March 2008. In Greece alone, 57.6% of young people are out of work. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, stated in her opening plenary remarks in Davos yesterday that of the 202 million people the ILO reports are unemployed, two out of five are under the age of 24.            

"Young people are losing hope of finding jobs, and many have stopped searching for work altogether. They are fast becoming a generation that sees no path to success," said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup President and Junior Achievement USA board member. "Opportunities can be created for youth by providing the required tools and training to ensure they acquire the skills and expertise needed. There are examples of initiatives that have shown promise, but the sheer scale of the issue requires a dedicated and focused effort to succeed."

Prising today participated in the WEF session, "Preventing a Lost Generation," exploring how Europe's leaders can engage 14 million unemployed young people in the workforce. ManpowerGroup recently released two reports, "How Policy Makers Can Boost Youth Employment" and "Wanted: Energized, Career-Driven Youth." Both reports recommend strategies to prevent an entire generation from being excluded from the labor market, at a time when ManpowerGroup's research found that more than one-third of employers globally are having difficulty filling open positions. Both reports can be downloaded from: http://www.manpowergroup.com/research/research.cfm

Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman, wrote a blog on the subject of Europe's youth unemployment problem for The Huffington Post based on his new book, The Re-emergence of Europe, citing a report produced jointly by WEF and ManpowerGroup. The report, titled "Youth Unemployment Challenges and Solutions", identified solutions to youth unemployment. The blog can be viewed at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/klaus-schwab/the-reemergence-of-europe_3_b_2489823.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

ManpowerGroup's recommendations to better align skills supply and demand in the labor market include convening employers and educators to create a shared, pragmatic language of skills specifications that is job-relevant and can help coordinate training resources, improve career guidance resources for young people at all stages of the education process, improve access to training that is clearly linked to employment outcomes, and support youth-friendly technology platforms, such as mobile devices to deliver information and services.

In addition, adopting contingent work models through private employment services plays an important part in matching labor supply and demand by increasing opportunities for marginalized groups including youth to participate in the formal labor market and furnishing them with valuable employability skills.

Last year, Jeff Joerres, ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO, co-chaired the B20 Task Force on Employment, which culminated delivering recommendations for focused actions to inspire sustainable employment creation at the G20 Summit in Mexico. These recommendations included improving collaboration between business and educational institutions, and scaling internships and apprenticeships. Prising led a dynamic debate at the World Economic Forum on Latin America, building on the B20 job creation recommendations to create actionable deliverables.  

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup™ (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, creates and delivers high-impact solutions that enable our clients to achieve their business goals and enhance their competitiveness. With over 60 years of experience, our $22 billion company creates unique time to value through a comprehensive suite of innovative solutions that help clients win in the Human Age. These solutions cover an entire range of talent-driven needs from recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. ManpowerGroup maintains the world's largest and industry-leading network of 3,600 offices in 80 countries and territories, generating a dynamic mix of an unmatched global footprint with valuable insight and local expertise to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, across all industry sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, local, multinational and global companies. By connecting our deep understanding of human potential to the ambitions of clients, ManpowerGroup helps the organizations and individuals we serve achieve more than they imagined – because their success leads to our success. And by creating these powerful connections, we create power that drives organizations forward, accelerates personal success and builds more sustainable communities. We help power the world of work. The ManpowerGroup suite of solutions is offered through ManpowerGroup™ Solutions, Manpower®, Experis™ and Right Management®. Learn more about how ManpowerGroup can help you win in the Human Age at www.manpowergroup.com.

ManpowerGroup is the most trusted brand in the industry, and was once again the only company in our industry to be named to the Ethisphere Institute's 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies list for our proven commitment to ethical business practices, including an outstanding commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate social responsibility.

In January 2011, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, ManpowerGroup announced the world has entered the Human Age, where talent has replaced capital as the key competitive differentiator. This concept of talentism as the new capitalism continues to resonate and was echoed as a core theme of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Learn more at www.manpowergroup.com/humanage

Gain access to ManpowerGroup's extensive thought leadership papers, annual Talent Shortage surveys and the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, one of the most trusted indices of employment activity in the world, via the ManpowerGroup World of Work Insight iPad application. This thought leadership app explores the challenges faced by employers navigating the changing world of work and provides in-depth commentary, analysis, insight and advice on strategies for success. 

Follow ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres on Twitter: twitter.com/manpowergroupjj. Joerres is one of only 20 Fortune 500 CEOs who leverages a Twitter account to get his message out.

SOURCE ManpowerGroup