Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2012 Youth and skills : Putting education to work Urbanization and the Employment Opportunities of Youth in Developing Countries
Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2012 Youth and skills : Putting education to work Urbanization and the Employment Opportunities of Youth in Developing Countries
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为《2012 年全民教育全球监测报告》编写的背景文件《青年与技能：让教育发挥作用》发展中国家城市化和青年就业机会
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发表时间：
2012
期刊：
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通讯作者：
U. Grant
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作者：
U. Grant
据估计，到2030年，所有发展中地区居住在城市地区的人口将超过农村地区，未来30年，世界上几乎所有的人口增长都集中在城市地区。这份文件概述了发展中国家的城市化模式与城市经济增长的关系以及对城市贫困的影响，特别是对城市青年的影响。各国的人均收入与其城市化水平之间存在很强的关联性，但各国或地区的城市化水平并不一致。尽管它们具有经济影响力，但相对较少的大城市集聚地实际上在大量较小的城市中心进行了大量城市化，近几十年来城市变化如此迅速的原因之一是，它是从一个小基础开始的。城市化也与城市贫困和贫民窟的增长密切相关。有一些证据表明，撒哈拉以南的一些非洲国家目前正处于停滞或城市化进程非常缓慢的状态，这可能反映了许多城市地区经济机会的减少以及城市贫困和生计不安全危机的加剧。预计到2030年，青年(18岁以下)将占城市人口的60%，青年在城市贫困人口中的比例过高。大多数城市青年，特别是青年移民，生活在计划外的安置区，往往条件恶劣，容易受到高失业率的影响。该文件考虑了城市地区为青年人口创造就业机会的能力，区分了经济部门以及正规和非正规就业。城市地区的特点是就业竞争激烈，经济增长的部门构成极大地影响了城市人口的利益和成本分配。非穷人往往集中在正规就业中，而贫穷居民则在更不安全和报酬极低的非正规部门活动中工作。年轻人当然不是同质的群体。年龄、性别和个人背景在城市生活的愿望和机会之间起中介作用。这篇论文考察了年轻人应对正式工作稀缺的方式，以及技能在他们的发展轨迹中所起的作用。报告的结论是，城市贫困青年的正规教育成就水平较低是有偿城市机会的主要制约因素，但城市青年的谋生组合需要并发展创业技能，非正规教育和学习在非正规部门得到承认。教育并不是就业的唯一障碍。社会经济因素，如当地市场的实力和个人自身的网络，决定了青年所能获得的各种机会。本文引用了四个附加的案例研究，这些研究说明了在快速城市化(例如巴西、加纳)、繁荣的经济体(例如越南)和高城市青年失业率(例如埃及)的背景下的许多动态变化。技能发展是对城市就业问题的重要回应，但城市经济是由社会政治因素和经济因素驱动的充满活力的市场。技能的提高给年轻人带来了更多的自信和自我价值，但不能忽视助长劳动力市场歧视和长期劣势的更广泛的层面。1乌苏拉·格兰特是一名独立顾问，专门研究贫困动态和城市化。通讯地址：ursulamgrant@gmail.com
By 2030 it is estimated that all developing regions will have more people living in urban areas than rural areas, with virtually all the world’s population growth concentrated in urban areas over the next 30 years. This paper provides an overview of patterns of urbanization across developing countries in relation to urban economic growth and implications for urban poverty, particularly among urban youth. There is a strong association between nations’ per capita incomes and their level of urbanisation, but urbanisation is not uniform within countries or regions. Despite their economic clout, there are relatively few large urban concentrations with much urbanisation actually occurring within a large number of smaller urban centres, and one of the reasons urban change has been so rapid in recent decades is that it started from a small base. Urbanisation has been strongly associated with urban poverty and slum growth too. There is some evidence that some sub-Saharan African countries are now stagnating or urbanising very slowly, perhaps reflecting declining economic opportunities in many urban areas and a rising crisis of urban poverty and livelihood insecurity. Youth (under 18 years old) are predicted to make up 60% of urban populations by 2030 and youth are over-represented among the urban poor. Most urban youth, particularly youth migrants, live in unplanned settlement areas, often in squalid conditions and are vulnerable to high levels of unemployment. The paper considers the capacity of urban areas to create jobs for youth populations, distinguishing between economic sectors, and formal and informal employment. Urban areas are characterised by high competition for jobs, and the sectoral composition of economic growth hugely influences the distribution of benefits and costs across urban populations. The non-poor tend to cluster in formal employment while poor residents work in more insecure and very low paid informal sector activities. Young people are of course not a homogenous group. Age, gender, and personal background mediate aspirations and opportunities of urban living. The paper examines the ways youth populations cope with formal job scarcity, and the part played by skills in their trajectories. It concludes that the low level of formal education achievement among poor urban youth is a major constraint to remunerative urban opportunities, but that the livelihood portfolios of urban youth require and develop entrepreneurial skill, and that informal education and learning is recognised within the informal sector. Education is not the only barrier to employment. Socio-economic factors, such as the strength of local markets and an individual’s own networks mediate the kinds of opportunities available to youth. The paper refers to four appended case studies, which provide illustration of many of these dynamics in contexts of rapid urbanisation (e.g. Brazil, Ghana), boom economies (e.g. Vietnam) and high urban youth unemployment (e.g. Egypt). Skills development is an important response to urban employment problems, but urban economies are dynamic market places driven by socio-political factors as well as economic ones. Enhanced skills rewards young people with increased confidence and self-worth, but wider dimensions that fuel labour market discrimination and long-term disadvantage cannot be ignored. 1 Ursula Grant is an independent consultant specialising in poverty dynamics and urbanisation. Correspondence address: ursulamgrant@gmail.com