Pope Francis urges action on youth unemployment

Pope Francis has urged leaders to do more to tackle youth unemployment, saying young people were being idolised yet were being gradually pushed to the edges of public life in desperation.

In his year-end message last night, the Pope said a generation was being lost to migration and joblessness, and that is leading them to move around for jobs or be forced to beg for them.

The pontiff made the remarks at his last public event of 2016, an evening vespers service in St Peter’s Basilica. After the traditional evening prayers inside the basilica, he made his way through the crowds towards a life-size Nativity scene, part of the Maltese crib at the Vatican.

During the evening prayers, the 80-year-old Francis said doors had to be opened for young people "so that they can be capable of dreaming and fighting for their dreams".

"We have condemned our young people to have no place in society, because we have slowly pushed them to the margins of public life, forcing them to migrate or to beg for jobs that no longer exist or fail to promise them a future," he said in his homily.

More than responsibility, the Pope said the world owed young people “a debt” because they have been deprived of “dignified and genuine work” that would allow them to take part in society, instead condemning them “to knock on doors that for the most part remain closed.” 

Youth joblessness in Italy stands at more than 36% and tops 18% among the 28 European Union states.

In Africa, the continent with the world's youngest population, youth unemployment probably increased in 2016, and was near 30 per cent in North Africa, according to the International Labour Organisation.