Career builders: Key components for effective global youth career and workforce development

Abstract

Global youth unemployment is a significant cause of poverty, resulting in the persistent marginalization of populations. Education and career counseling professionals and professionals in policy, research, and practice concur that the consequences of global youth unemployment are dire. But leaders in these domains have not yet come to an agreement on the best ways to face this global challenge.
Our analysis of interdisciplinary literature on global youth unemployment is a first step in identifying and formalizing best practices for culturally appropriate career and workforce development worldwide. This research will support education and career counseling professionals in developing appropriate career and psychosocial support interventions, establishing empirical intervention efficacy and other program evaluation protocols, and creating a capacity-building infrastructure for knowledge-sharing across policy, research, and practitioner stakeholder groups. We also include a proposal for next steps to establish rigorous empirical support for these future initiatives.