Within the next 15 years, some 375 million young people will become of working age in Africa, equivalent to the current population of Canada and the United States combined. By 2050, nearly one in three young people will be living in sub-Saharan Africa, and most of them simply cannot afford not to work.

ILO News talked to Bruno Losch, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn ), at the University of Western Cape, South Africa, and lead political economist at Cirad (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) about the youth employment challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. Losch is the author of two International Labour Organization publications on the subject and spoke at an ILO seminar in June.

For the full interview, visit the ILO website here.