people and planet

2
large and growing youth populations (ILO, 2015a). In
advanced economies, unemployment has always been
a feature to various degrees; all else being equal, it is
questionable whether educating the unemployed to
minimum standards would lead to full employment.
So it is important for education interventions to be
accompanied by economic policies that aim to increase
demand for skilled labour.
EDUCATION, ESPECIALLY SECONDARY
AND TERTIARY, CAN ADDRESS PERVASIVE
WORKING POVERTY AND JOB INSTABILITY
This chapter has already described how working people’s
earnings often do not allow them to escape poverty.
Almost half of workers in developing regions are in or
near poverty, with considerably higher proportions in low
and lower middle income countries (Figure 2.2).
Even higher shares of workers are in ‘vulnerable
employment’: they work on their own account or
with one or more partners, or they are unpaid family
workers. Beyond low income, vulnerable employment is
associated with a lack of social protection and unstable
working conditions. It was estimated to account for
45% of global employment in 2014 (ILO, 2015c), and
75% of workers in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern
Asia. Women tend to be over-represented in vulnerable
employment in most regions. Even higher proportions
of workers are estimated to work informally, operating
outside legislative frameworks and lacking employment
protection. Evidence suggests that in many low and
middle income countries, over half of non-agricultural
employment is informal, particularly in sub-Saharan
Africa and Southern Asia, as well as many Latin American
countries (ILO, 2013b).
Increasing levels of education are progressively
associated with lower working poverty rates, as
illustrated by analysis of twelve low and lower middle
income countries surveyed in the Skills Towards
Employment and Productivity (STEP) programme
(Figure 2.4) 9 . Attainment of upper secondary education10
considerably reduces the likelihood of working in
poverty compared to lower levels of education. Indeed,
this advantage appears clear in comparison to lowersecondary
attainment in most countries sampled. Those
with tertiary education are least likely to be working in
poverty, by a substantial margin.
FIGURE 2.4:
Increasing levels of education are associated with lower working poverty
Working poverty (below 50% of median weekly earnings) by education level in 12 low and middle income countries
Working poverty (%)
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Primary or less
Lower secondary
Upper secondary/
post-secondary non-tertiary
Tertiary
Yunnan province
(China)
Kenya
Ukraine*
Viet Nam
TFYR Macedonia*
Sri Lanka
Lao PDR
Armenia*
Bolivia
Ghana
Colombia
Georgia*
Pooled
Notes: Sample is for urban areas. Sample restricted to full-time workers (at least 30 hours per week) aged 15–64. *Levels of education were excluded due to
low number of observations.
Source: GEM Report team calculations based on World Bank STEP Skills Measurement Surveys (2012–2013).
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 57