According to the African Development Indicators (ADI) 2008/09, a job-seeking African youth (age 15-24) — typically a poor, out–of–school female living in a rural area — will likely face increasingly greater challenges in securing employment on the continent. Arguing for a multi-sectoral approach, this report suggests several key areas to begin tackling the employment issue, including expanding job and education alternatives in the rural areas; encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship; improving the access and quality of skills formation; and addressing demographic issues.

Citing examples of interventions designed to integrate young people in the labor market, the study reinforces the point that comprehensive and integrated approaches tend to do better than fragmented ones. Given the challenges faced by the youth in labor markets, success in pursuing employment for young people will require long term, concerted actions, spanning a wide range of policies and programs.

Due to an increase in youth population, as well as the still very high fertility rate that characterizes the region, African countries will likely face an increase in job creation pressure for the youth over the coming decades. However, the report also highlights the valuable resource that young people are to their countries, and points out that helping them gain access to employment is a critical precondition for poverty eradication and sustainable development.