As the jobs crisis drags on, high unemployment could permanently
damage the economic prospects of the world's youngest workers,
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
warned Tuesday. A lack of jobs for workers ages 15 to 24 could
create a "scarring effect" on their long-term career paths and
future earnings prospects, the OECD said. Last year, about 18.6
percent of youth were neither employed nor in school or training
programs across the OECD's 34 countries, the think tank said. In
the United States, that percentage was 14.8 percent. Besides the
United States, the OECD represents Japan, Mexico and much of
Europe. It predicts the unemployment rate across those countries
will fall no lower than 7.7 percent by the end of 2013 -- barely
an improvement over its current 7.9 percent. Youth workers, it
warned, are bearing the brunt of that crisis. "It is imperative
that governments use every possible means at their disposal to
help jobseekers, especially young people, by removing barriers
to job c