Young Workers
There are 541 million young workers (15-24 years old) globally. They account for more than 15 per cent of the world’s labour force and suffer up to a 40 per cent higher rate of non-fatal occupational injuries than adult workers older than 25. They include 37 million 15-17 year olds in hazardous child labour.
Many factors can increase youth vulnerability to OSH risks, such as their physical and psychological stage of development, lack of work experience and lack of training, limited awareness of work-related hazards and a lack of bargaining power that can lead young workers to accept dangerous tasks or jobs with poor working conditions.
Improving the Safety and Health of Young Workers
The ILO has prepared this brief for the 2018 World Day for Safety and
Health at Work, which aims to promote a safe and healthy generation. The goals of the brief are to describe the OSH risks faced by young workers and to encourage a global conversation on the need to improve their safety and health. The brief analyses the factors that increase the work-related risks that young workers face and describes legal, policy and practical steps for improvement.