During the height of the economic recession in 2009, globally 81 million young people aged 15-24 were unemployed. The youth unemployment rate rose from the pre-crisis 2007 level of 11.9%to 13%, leaving 7.8 million additional youth without work. This increase was compounded by a larger decline over the last decade in labor force participation, where youth actively participating in labor markets shrank 4% to 50.8% in 2008. All told, the economic recession has significantly impacted the livelihoods of young people around the world and thus threatened the economies and societies that they support.