• Overseas Development Institute
• Southern Voice

• Anam Khan
• Samavia Batool
• Fazal Hussain
• Vaqar Ahmed

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) experience identifies inclusive employment as the critical link between
growth and poverty reduction. Gains towards poverty reduction were persistent in countries which put in place
institutions and reforms to ensure decent work for their labour force. While investment in human resource is
important, equally essential is the reform of goods and labour markets so that economic expansion is able to absorb
both existing unemployment and incremental increases in the labour force (Ahmed 2012).

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the importance of inclusive employment in the 8th goal which
aims to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work
for all�. There are 16 targets under this goal. These targets aim to achieve and sustain a respectable
per capita economic growth and productivity in developing economies. Such growth should be broad based and help
boost both wage- and self-employment. Governments are expected to carry out market and competition reforms so that
creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship can be embraced (Mehta 2015).

The targets under goal-8 also focus on reducing youth unemployment and providing decent work to women, minorities
and other marginalized communities. There is an emphasis on reforming the financial sector, so that the new entrants
in the market are able to access the funds necessary to operationalize the innovative ideas. This linkage is
important in South Asia as; a) one-fifth of the population in the region is between the ages of 15 and 24, b) the
largest number of young people ever to transition into adulthood across the world will be in this region, c) youth
unemployment is an acute problem and young adults continue to account for half of the unemployed population in the
region, and d) youth are six-times more likely to be jobless than older workers.

Recent literature cites two important reasons for the challenges faced in the context of youth unemployment in
South Asia. First is the slow growth in formal jobs vis-vis growth in the real sectors value added. Second, there is
a skills-mismatch in the labour market. The quality of workers demanded by employers and of those graduating from
the universities and training institutions is at variance (Khan and Ahmed 2014, Wahab et al. 2013).

Taking the lead from this literature, we argue that the ambitious agenda set out in the targets for goal-8 of SDGs
need a careful tailoring of policies and programmes across South Asian countries. The existing institutions
responsible for implementation of policies under goal-8 will need to revamp their business processes to meet the
expectations of a large youth population. Such a revamping may require legislative changes, e.g. ensuring some
degree of gender parity in educational institutions and workplaces. This could also involve capacity building of the
administration responsible for implementing the legislative changes, and new policies and programs towards active
and passive labour market reforms (Ahmed et al. 2014).

Taking lead from the above mentioned and ongoing discourse on possible institutional arrangements for SDGs, this
review paper discusses:

• Constraints to youth employment in South Asia
• Priority actions needed to accelerate progress on goal-8 and particularly youth employment
• Means of implementation and policy interventions to materialize priority actions (for youth employment)
• Possible sharing of experiences on mobilizing youth engagement with in South Asian Association for Regional
  Cooperation (SAARC) member countries.