More than two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the employment of young people and the least qualified people still bears the stigma of the health crisis, notes the OECD in a study published on Friday.
"
Even before the new shock from the war in Ukraine, the recovery of the labor market remained incomplete and uneven from one country to another
", notes the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in its "
Prospects for job 2022
”.
"
Even if part of the unequal impact of the crisis for workers has been absorbed, young people and workers without a university education
" are still more penalized than other categories of employees in terms of employment.
Read alsoThe quality of jobs has improved since the Covid crisis
At the start of 2022, the employment rate for 15 to 24-year-olds stood 0.1 point above its level in the first quarter of 2019, the last year before the health crisis.
Among those aged 25-54, the employment rate was on average one point higher than its level in the first quarter of 2019, and it was even higher by 3 points among the oldest workers (55-64 years old).
An improvement for Norwegians and Irish
Of the 34 countries analyzed in the OECD report, young Slovaks, Icelanders and Portuguese are the furthest from their 2019 employment rate, while Norwegians and Irish participate significantly more in the labor market than three years earlier.
“
In France, thanks to exceptional government measures targeted at young people (reform of apprenticeships and support for the most vulnerable), their situation on the labor market has improved markedly, with an increase of 4 percentage points in their employment rate
”, details the organization in the
dedicated “
country sheet ”.
But “
the youth employment rate remains low and below the OECD average, while the youth unemployment rate is high and above the OECD average
,” she immediately tempers.
'
Some degree of targeting of apprenticeship programs ', which '
mainly
' benefit
the most skilled young people, '
might be needed
“Judges the OECD, before recommending”
an overhaul and strengthening of support for vocational schools
“.
Read alsoIn the energy sector, more than one in two jobs now involves renewable energies
In addition to age, the level of training also seems to be decisive for the ability of workers to find a job after the health crisis.
Those who have not been to university see their employment rate fall by 0.2 to 0.3 points compared to 2019, while it increases by 0.4 points among those who have had an academic education. .
More generally, the OECD notes that the job market has been resilient after the pandemic.
“
The unemployment rate in OECD countries has fallen gradually since its peak in April 2020 (8.8%) and stabilized in the first months of 2022
”, indicates the institution based in Paris.
“
In July 2022, it stood at 4.9%, slightly below the 5.3% recorded in December 2019
”.
In other good news, between 2019 and 2022, the gap between the employment rate of men and women has narrowed in 23 of the 34 countries covered by the report.
