YBI and Generation Unlimited share executive summary of new report on the livelihood economy

Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people in low- and middle-income countries will reach working age. Around 700 million of them will no longer be in school, against around 420 million projected jobs.

For many, formal employment will remain out of reach. Yet young people are already building working lives through trading, small shops, household enterprises, farming, delivery and repair. This is what we call the “livelihood economy” — and it’s where many young people will earn their living.

Our new research argues that the goal isn’t to push these livelihoods towards formalisation or high-growth business. It’s to make them more secure, productive and visible, while opening pathways to enterprise growth and wage employment where they exist.

Today, we’re sharing the executive summary of “From Necessity to Economic Opportunity: Turning the work young people already do into secure livelihoods”, a forthcoming report commissioned by Generation Unlimited and Youth Business International (YBI), and written by Systemic Innovation.

The report sets out how finance, business support, regulation, social protection and data can be redesigned to make livelihoods safer and more resilient, and how governments, financial institutions, large firms, enterprise support organisations and youth networks can each play a role in turning necessity into economic opportunity.

Read the executive summary on the Generation Unlimited website.

The full report will launch in November.