Th is paper reviews evidence from both industrialized and developing countries on the relationship between labour market fl exibility and employment. It is argued that the notion of fl exibility and its impact is often oversimplifi ed. Th e evidence, such as it is, does not provide much support for the view that greater fl exibility results in higher employment. Th ere is more evidence for an i...

More than 1 billion people today are between 15 and 25 years of age and nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population is below the age of 20. However, eighty-five per cent of young people live in developing countries where a vast majority of them are struggling to learn and work in a context of extreme poverty. According to World Bank figures, approximately 1.2 billion people struggle for surviv...