5 charts that show the state of global youth employment in 2024

If you’re a young person looking for your first job, here’s some good news: the global labour market for young people (aged 15-24) has improved over the past few years – and is on an upward trajectory.

That’s the conclusion of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) latest edition of its Global Employment Trends for Youth report.

But while there is reason to be optimistic, the youth unemployment rate currently stands at 13% – equivalent to almost 65 million people out of work. And the post-pandemic employment recovery has not been experienced by all, says the ILO. “Young people in certain regions and many young women are not seeing the benefits of the economic recovery.”

Here are five charts that show the current state of global youth employment – and where it needs to be.

With youth unemployment at its lowest level for 15 years, there seems on the surface plenty to celebrate. Yet it’s also the case that a fifth of young people were not in employment, education or training (NEET) in 2023. More startling, two-thirds of these NEETs were female, says the ILO, while in some developing regions, youth unemployment rates have actually gone up since the pandemic.

Even among the cohort that secured work, it turns out that half of those young workers were in informal, short-term employment.

The ILO says that the high NEET rates, coupled with a lack of secure jobs, are contributing to the anxiety of a generation that also happens to be the most educated to date.

It is not surprising, then, that a recent survey on ‘What Young People Want’ found that the majority prioritized education and skills that would enable them to enter the workforce.

“Peaceful societies rely on three core ingredients: stability, inclusion and social justice; and decent work for the youth is at the heart of all three,” said Gilbert F Houngbo, the ILO’s Director-General.

While regions like North America and Europe have sustained relatively low youth unemployment rates, other regions have taken backward steps. In the Arab states, East Asia and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, youth unemployment rates were higher in 2023 than in 2019, according to the report.

And across Africa, which is heading for what demography experts term a ‘youthquake’, young people are still not faring well – with unemployment rates “critically high” in North Africa and nearly three-quarters of young adults in sub-Saharan Africa stuck in insecure employment.

The disparity between high-income and low-income countries was also marked when comparing the number of young adult workers (aged 25-29) in regular paid work – at four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively.

One of the reasons for these levels of youth unemployment is the discrepancy between the qualifications young people achieve and the skills the jobs of today demand. “Educational mismatches have increased as the supply of educated youth starts to outweigh the supply of jobs for the highly skilled in middle-income countries,” says the ILO.

With 75% of companies adopting the latest technologies like big data, cloud computing and AI, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, it’s no wonder some young people are getting left behind.

Training is crucial, experts agree. “While the potential economic benefits of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are promising,” says the Forum’s report, Shaping the Future of Learning: The Role of AI in Education 4.0, “unlocking this value hinges on addressing the most significant barriers: persistent global shortages in digital skills and AI talent”.

Equipping young people “with [the] evolving demands for green and digital skills will be critical to reducing education mismatches,” says the ILO report.

It also urges policymakers to include “the voice of young people” in any decisions about the future of work.

Moving forward, all stakeholders, including educators and employers, must collaborate closely to boost job creation, “with a specific target on jobs for young women”, says the ILO.

“Without equal opportunities to education and decent jobs, millions of young people are missing out on their chances for a better future,” cautioned its Director-General Houngbo.