The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) has called on African leaders to make the creation of decent jobs a priority in economic policymaking across the continent.
ITUC-Africa made the call in a statement issued to mark the 2026 World Day for Decent Work, observed globally on 7 October.
The pan-African trade union organisation said Africa’s growing youth population must be positively engaged through access to decent employment and economic opportunities to reduce vulnerability to irregular migration and exploitation.
The statement, signed by ITUC-Africa Secretary-General, Mr Joel Odigie, urged African governments, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities and employers to urgently place decent work at the centre of economic policies.
Odigie called for “decent job creation at the heart of economic policy, through industrial policies and structural transformation that create quality jobs for young people, including within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).”
He also called for living wages and universal social protection for all workers, including young, informal, migrant and platform workers.
He urged governments and employers to ensure fair and safe labour migration, reject Afrophobia and xenophobia, and protect the rights of African migrant workers wherever they work.
The Secretary-General further called for the mobilisation of domestic resources for decent work by tackling illicit financial flows and the continent’s unsustainable debt burden, which he said drains public investment in jobs, education and healthcare.
Addressing ITUC-Africa affiliates, Odigie called for greater efforts to organise young workers, create leadership opportunities for them and ensure that trade unions remain relevant to the continent’s next generation of workers.
“Decent work is a right. Africa’s youth deserve a future built on dignity, justice and hope, and they are already organising to build it,” he said.
According to the statement, ITUC-Africa represents 18 million workers through 107 affiliated national centres across 52 countries. It said the organisation had joined the global trade union movement in placing young workers at the centre of the campaign for decent jobs, living wages, secure employment and respect for workers’ rights.
The organisation described Africa as the world’s youngest continent, saying its youthful population should be an advantage, but noted that millions of young Africans continued to face difficulties securing decent livelihoods.
It cited the International Labour Organisation’s Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026, which it said showed that nearly nine in 10 young workers in low- and lower-middle-income countries were in informal employment.
“Behind these figures are young women and men working without contracts, without social protection, without safe conditions and without a voice,” the statement said.
It stated that many young people were pushed towards dangerous migration routes in search of better opportunities, exposed to exploitation in platform and gig work, and sometimes faced repression when demanding better working conditions.
The ITUC-Africa Secretary-General also highlighted the additional challenges faced by young women, including discrimination and gender-based violence in the workplace.
Despite the challenges, Odigie said young Africans were organising and demanding greater participation in decisions affecting their lives.
“They are organising in factories and markets, in offices and online, in their communities and in their unions. They want a say in the decisions that shape their lives, and they are right to demand it,” he said.
He added that the struggle for decent work was also connected to the broader pursuit of democracy, fairness and a better future for Africa.
