[Excerpt] An intensified focus on youth at the international level in recent years has brought a greater understanding of youth labour markets and led to development of a growing number of national action plans for youth employment as well as other more specific youth-related policies and programmes at the national level. But has the increased global awareness of the vulnerabilities of youth brought about any quantifiable changes in their labour market situation? Are more young people attaining their desired job? The ILO\u27s third edition of the Global Employment Trends for Youth (October 2008) examines the most recent labour market indicators and finds that young people still suffer disproportionately from a deficit of decent work opportunities. However, progress has been seen in some regions. The report, which updates the world and regional youth labour market indicators presented in previous reports (2004 and 2006), is organized according to nine regional analyses
