Youth are ignorant of their labor rights
Over the past few years many new reports and information have been released about the issues Mongolian youth face regarding unemployment. While Mongolia is considered a young country with one third of its population being labeled as youth, it is unfortunate to see that almost 20 percent of Mongolian youth are unemployed, according to World Bank data in 2017.
The official status of the percentage of youth unemployment is much higher than the ones released online as unemployment rates are consistent with those that are actively searching for work. Before the youth enter the labor market, it is essential for them to be aware of their rights to work.
Most Mongolian youth are also unaware of their labor rights as stated by the National Human Rights Commission, youth are vulnerable to unpaid apprenticeship, long working hours, no employment contracts, high degree of harassment and unfair dismissals. In order to combat this issue, different public and civil society organizations have gathered to build a network that promotes the labor rights of youth.
Furthermore, youth with higher education in Mongolia find it more difficult to find jobs as opposed to uneducated young people. This is due to the fact that those without their undergraduate or high school degrees enter the labor market earlier on compared to those who seek higher education. Regardless, finding decent work is not easy for youth as they are often criticized of being unqualified as the national education system does not prepare them with the necessary skills to enter the labor market. When youth do find an employer willing to hire them, they are often forced comply with unfair demands to avoid being unemployed.
Employers are also aware of the fact that it is challenging for youth to find employment. It has become a common trend for employers to say that they can replace their young employees in low skilled jobs with others seeking labor any minute. Perhaps due to lack of awareness about labor rights, they often make employment contracts with organizations that are disadvantageous to them.
It has also become common knowledge amongst Mongolians that companies hire new recruits with unpaid internships and have them do the same amount of work as their actual employee for a training period of many months. The company saves costs by taking advantage of the employment problems of youth only to lay them off after a few months and hire fresh recruits for the next quarter. This form of unethical labor practices are increasing in Mongolia.
On June 21, the Agency for Family, Child and Youth Development hosted a conference with youth organizations at the State Palace to discuss volunteer labor laws and amendments that should be made.
It is essential that the youth be aware of their employment contract, social security, and conditions of work such as hours of work, wages and leave, and occupational safety and health. It is without a doubt that youth labor is a valuable contribution to society, and as such the Resolution of the International Labor Conference “The youth employment crisis: A call for action” was adopted to protect the labor rights of youth. The resolution seeks to train efficient trade unions, employment services, education, training and youth organizations to raise awareness about labor rights.
More and more youth organizations are beginning to realize the importance of the youth labor right. The International Labor Organization (ILO) seeks to raise awareness of labor rights among Mongolian youth. The United Nations Youth Advisory Panel has also hosted its second Lets Discuss at the UN event in May with cooperation of ILO to discuss the issues facing youth employment in Mongolia. The event was facilitated by Matthieu Cognac, a youth employment specialist of ILO from the Asia and Pacific office in Bangkok.
The CMTU/AFCYD Training of Facilitator on Rights@Work for Youth was hosted in Ulaanbaatar in May. The Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions (CMTU) and the Agency for Family, Child and Youth Development organized a training workshop to “design and deliver learning sessions on rights at work for young workers”. This particular training was organized with support of the EU Funded project “Supporting GSP+ Beneficiary Countries to Effectively Implement ILS and Comply with Reporting Obligations-Mongolia”.
Some 35 participants have joined forces for raising awareness about labor rights among youth, including ILO, Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions, National Human Rights commission, General Agency for Specialized Inspection, General Authority for Labor and Welfare Services and the United Nations Youth Advisory Panel. The sessions trained the facilitators to help youth that are in or about to enter the labor market to teach them about their rights.