Global youth unemployment rises to 12.4% as 67 million young people remain jobless

Dubai: Young people are facing a worsening global jobs market, with youth unemployment rising to 12.4 per cent in 2025 and an estimated 67 million people aged 15 to 24 out of work, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The findings, published on Tuesday in the ILO’s Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026: Back to the Future, suggest that the progress made in youth employment following the Covid-19 pandemic has come to an abrupt halt.

The deterioration comes amid continued uncertainty in the global economy, persistent inflationary pressures and growing concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs.

“This reversal of fortunes is taking place at a time of great uncertainty and fragility in the global economy,” the ILO said. “Growth remains subdued, uncertainty is elevated, inflationary pressures persist, and new risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) are emerging. None of this bodes well for young people.”

The challenges facing young workers extend beyond unemployment.

The share of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) also increased slightly to 20 per cent, affecting more than 257 million people globally. The ILO said the deterioration in youth employment prospects is widespread, with youth unemployment increasing between 2023 and 2025 in eight of the world’s 11 subregions.

Rates also rose across high-income, lower-middle-income and low-income countries. “The picture is worsening almost universally,” the report said.

Some of the sharpest increases in youth unemployment have been recorded in higher-income economies, challenging the employment prospects of millions of young people entering the workforce.

In Northern America, youth unemployment rose from 8.3 per cent in 2023 to 9.8 per cent in 2025.

Meanwhile, youth unemployment remained high at 15 per cent in Northern, Southern and Western Europe in 2025. Of the 29 countries in the subregion, 20 reported weaker job opportunities for young people.

The ILO said jobs that have traditionally served as entry points for young workers are shrinking.

These include clerical and administrative positions, service and sales roles, manufacturing-related jobs and some technical occupations.

Developing economies are home to the largest share of the world's young population. According to the United Nations Population Fund, nearly 90 per cent of the global youth population lives in developing and emerging economies.

The ILO found that nearly nine in 10 young workers aged 15 to 29 in low- and lower-middle-income countries are employed informally, limiting their access to stable incomes and social protection.

The report highlighted sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab States and Northern Africa as regions where young people continue to face particularly poor employment, education and training opportunities.

“In 2025, youth unemployment stood at 26.2 per cent in the Arab States and 22.6 per cent in Northern Africa,” the ILO said. “In both subregions, at least one in three young people were NEET.”

Technological change, particularly advances in artificial intelligence (AI), is also adding another layer of uncertainty to the youth employment outlook.

The ILO said the evidence on AI’s impact on jobs remains uncertain, but found that 6.1 per cent of jobs held by young people aged 15 to 29 are in occupations highly exposed to AI-related changes.

Many of these jobs overlap with middle-skilled occupations that have already declined among young workers since 2023, particularly clerical and administrative roles.

Despite the broader deterioration in youth employment prospects, some sectors are continuing to expand. Jobs in high-skilled fields including science, engineering, healthcare and information technology have continued to grow in most countries.

The ILO described this as an encouraging development, particularly at a time when entry-level positions in high-skilled technical fields are also believed to be declining.

Growth in these sectors was particularly strong in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where employment increased by 11.7 per cent between 2023 and 2025.

The ILO said this could offer some relief from the problem of educational mismatch, where young people with university degrees are forced to take jobs requiring lower qualifications because there are not enough positions that match their education.

The growth of high-skilled sectors could therefore provide some hope for young workers, even as the broader global employment outlook remains challenging.

The information and data in this article are based on the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) latest report, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026: Back to the Future.