Make Way for the Young: Strategies to Reduce Youth Unemployment Enhancing Youth Labor Outcome by the VET Model

Make Way for the Young: Strategies to Reduce Youth Unemployment
Enhancing Youth Labor Outcome by the VET Model

Sellita
Lecturer, Department of International Relations Bakrie University, Jakarta Indonesia

A huge global population presents opportunities and challenges for youth to enhance their potential and contribute as much as possible to the country's economic growth. The worldwide education target, part of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is severely off track. Several publications, including those from UNESCO and UN News, underline the alarming trend that, unless substantial changes are made, the world will fail to reach its promises to deliver inclusive and equitable quality education by 2030. The current trend is given the fact that the world is grappling with multiple crises—a complex set of interconnected global challenges that are simultaneously impacting economies, industries, and labor markets. These challenges range from climate change and geopolitical conflicts to technology upheaval and economic volatility. These issues are changing the work environment, particularly among young people. While youth poverty remains high, employers worldwide are struggling to fill essential roles, indicating major skill gaps.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), global youth unemployment was 13% in 2023. This condition is supported by many young people facing limited prospects for stable and decent work. On the other hand, the World Economic Forum (WEF) discovered that 44% of businesses report difficulty obtaining talent with the necessary qualifications to fill jobs. This disparity illustrates a growing mismatch between the need for trained people and the supply of youth job seekers (Forbes, 2024). If global governance fails to address it, it will exacerbate the talent shortage and unemployment problems. Statista data (2025) shows that of the four largest G7 and BRICS economies, India and Brazil consistently have the highest monthly unemployment rates, while Russia and Japan have the lowest. Meanwhile, India and Brazil are both major, rapidly expanding emerging market economies with enormous potential.

Several issues, such as intense competition, mismatched skills, and career uncertainty, hinder young people's ability to secure employment in the era of globalization. On the one hand, the world's conditions now include annual population growth, as well as an increase in the number of new graduates, resulting in a large number of candidates competing for a restricted number of posts. Meanwhile, young people struggle with a lack of originality that is appropriate for the workplace. The global education system trains the students to follow the existing system, limiting their learning creativity capacity. Ultimately, this results in university graduates submitting bureaucratic applications for specific strategic roles. The limitations related to hard and soft abilities can hinder young people.

It is important to remember that economic growth is not only determined by capital investment but also by a workforce that has the flexibility to master new skills to carry out new jobs in line with changes in the structure of the economy and employment. Numerous global circumstances and difficulties persist in the era of extensive information technology reform. Finding a proper job tends to be more challenging for young people. However, to overcome this challenge, we must take a comprehensive and systems-based approach, focusing on interrelated elements: economy, education, and employability. By combining these factors, it can help to reduce youth unemployment and create pathways to decent work for all.

This article will focus on the strategies to improve young employment outcomes, in terms of landing jobs in strategic positions. Youth's abilities and inventiveness are crucial for economic expansion, particularly in a country with typical characteristics of an emerging market. Youth are expected to create new jobs through their skills in the business world. Through the Vocational Education and Training (VET) model, it provides new opportunities for youth to continue their creativity. It will reduce their dependence on a job provided by the government or the private sector.

The Implementation of the VET Model

The implementation of VET can be done through formal education and training implemented by secondary schools and universities, and non-formal or pre-work training. It can be implemented by the public community or industry to produce certain skills (soft and hard).  Vocational Education and Training (VET) is a combination of education, training, and skill development in a wide range of occupational domains, including production, services, and livelihoods (UNESCO, 2015). The VET approach is used to help communities learn how to manage natural resources according to the ideals of local wisdom. In addition, this model offers affordable and scalable learning solutions. Switzerland is a country that serves as a reference in implementing the VET model, which is based on the Swiss Competency Framework and is considered one of the best education models in the world.

The use of TVET to improve the link between school and workplace and ease young people into the labor market generates a different result. People with a history of attending vocational school may find it more difficult to adapt to the needs of the labor market as technology progresses, and their employment might decrease in the future. (Hanushek et al., 2011). Several studies have mentioned that the prospects for vocational education work (formal and non-formal) have a greater career opportunity. This is because they have obtained various training and education. This vocational graduate will be able to survive in the workplace and earn a higher income. Additionally, this output is anticipated to close the pay gap between men and women (Korber & Oesch, 2019).

According to Quintini and Manfredi (2009), cross-country studies frequently discover that nations with a large dual apprenticeship system—such as Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland—have a significantly smoother transition from school to work, low NEET rates, low youth unemployment, and below-average persistent unemployed spells. Bertschy et al. (2009), using data from PISA tests to account for student ability differences, demonstrate that low-performing youth in Switzerland are penalized in the job market by choosing less demanding apprenticeships, but that their initial test scores—which once served as a gauge of their aptitude—no longer play a significant role in determining labor market outcomes. This demonstrates that companies recognize the value of the (hard and soft) abilities acquired in the vocational system in the workplace.

Young people need to learn how to generate new employment and not rely on existing ones in the age of globalization and technological growth. The VET model offers a solution for this challenge. Entrepreneurial skills are formed through vocational training and education. Various government and private sectors have implemented this program. Some of the scopes implemented through this model are trade and technical professions (plumbing, carpentry, electrical work); health care (nursing, elderly care, dental assistance); hospitality and Tourism (Culinary Arts, Hotel Management, Tourism Operations); business and Administration (Accounting, Office Management, Human Resources); information technology (Software Development, Network Administration, Cybersecurity); agriculture and horticulture (farming, landscaping, animal care); Creative industries (Graphic Design, Multimedia Production, Performing Arts).

The VET Model for BRICS Countries

Human Development is an essential measure of collaboration to build the Global South cooperation to create inclusive and sustainable governance. This can be achieved by applying the VET model to each of the BRICS countries, which offers excellent chances to create an autonomous economic structure independent of developed countries. Due to the scarcity of trained workers and technical professionals in nearly all BRICS nations, vocational education acquired importance. The VET model contributes to more sustainable and equitable development in BRICS countries by providing skills suitable for market demand. Vocational education and training must align with the standards and qualifications of occupations required today. For instance, positions involving technological innovation necessitate a large number of AI analysts. Therefore, by taking into account both present and future business needs, vocational education can be used to create this possibility.

The transition of the BRICS countries to develop a new economic system requires the task of building advanced training systems in these countries. For example, the challenge for the BRICS countries, such as India: retrain 250 million professionals by 2035; China: provide 140 million skilled professionals to the labor market, at least 2/3 in the high-tech sector; Russia: create and upgrade 25 million highly productive positions by 2020.

The BRICS TVET Cooperation Alliance was established in 2022 to promote vocational education and training (TVET) in BRICS countries. The alliance aims to increase employment opportunities and share best practices. The BRICS VET Cooperation Alliance Conference was organized by the Ministry of Education of China in April 2022 (BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution, 2022). The BRICS VET Cooperation Alliance is considered an important driver for vocational education reform by creating a platform for dialogue and information sharing to promote substantive cooperation. The Minister of Education of China, Mr. Tian Xuejun mentioned three objectives of the Alliance Conference: 1) practice inclusiveness for each BRICS country and each member to take ownership, follow the principle of openness and collaboration; 2) closely align with industry to ensure constant adaptation of vocational education to cultivate a highly skilled workforce relevant to the needs of socio-economic development; 3) apply advanced solutions combining digital and green technologies to enable innovative delivery models, accelerate the reform of TVET talent training programs, and create a digital resource sharing mechanism.

The VET system has been adopted in several BRICS countries, with varying methods and outcomes for workers' pay and performance. Starting from the developed countries in Asia, China combined the policy of VET by consisting of modified curricula to increase youth employability, a modernized vocational education system, and skills upgrading programs for migrant youth, resulting in a significant increase in the youth's labor market outcomes (Tang & Shi, 2017). VET implementation in Brazil produces a different wage premium level for graduates from high-level technical schools based on courses taken and graduate profiles (Almeida et al., 2015). In India, the implementation of VET has fluctuated slightly. The vocational education system is not fully prepared, one of the factors being population growth and regulation by the lack of uniform equipment and standards. However, the increase in the implementation of the VET model continues to be carried out to create quality human development that can compete in the workplace.



Conclusion

The VET model has a significant impact on reducing unemployment rates in the world, especially for young people. Through this model, people with low incomes have the opportunity to get education and paid jobs in a short time. This vocational education system can react immediately to labor market trends, preventing shortages and excesses of specialists. Through China, the BRICS countries initiated the formation of a special alliance in the field of VET cooperation. The expected result through the formation of this alliance is to suppress the increase in the percentage of unemployment in BRICS countries. In addition, the workforce produced is competent according to the fields of work currently needed. Young people play an important role as the main target for the implementation of the VET model.


References
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