Youth unemployment is rising in all regions of the globe, in low- and high-income regions alike.
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026 report, released on 11th August, warns that an entire generation may be locked out of meaningful, decent work unless governments, employers and educators act decisively.
After falling to a two-decade low in 2023, global youth unemployment has started climbing once more, reaching 12.4% in 2025 and leaving 67 million young people aged between 15 and 24 without work.
At the same time, the share of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) has risen to 20% globally. This means that around 257 million are missing out on both income and the chance to build skills and experience.
Post-pandemic unemployment
The post-pandemic improvement in youth labour markets was short-lived. Between 2023 and 2025, youth unemployment worsened, with 105 countries seeing rates rise compared with just 58 where they fell.
The Arab States and North Africa continue to record the world’s highest youth unemployment rates (26.2% and 22.6% respectively), while North America saw the sharpest increase, from 8.3% to 9.8%.
In low-income countries, the situation is described as “daunting”. More than a quarter (27.9%) of young people here are NEET and there are extremely limited opportunities for work.
Why are young people struggling?
Rising NEET rates are especially worrying because young people’s disengagement from the labour market is harder to reverse than unemployment.
Those who spend long periods out of work or training face lasting impacts on earnings, weaker skills and reduced wellbeing. For individual countries, this translates into slower growth, higher inequality and greater social instability.
The ILO says a combination of slowing global growth, weak job creation, geopolitical tensions and rapid technological change are all contributing to today’s situation. Artificial intelligence and automation are flagged as particular risks for entry-level and middle-skilled roles, which are often ideal first jobs for young workers.
In high-income countries, even young people with higher education qualifications face uncertainty as firms cut back on hiring and automate the tasks traditionally done by junior staff. In many low- and lower-middle-income economies, job growth has seen improvements but it is concentrated in low-productivity, informal work where there is little protection or career progression.
What needs to happen – urgently
The report calls for co-ordinated action in four areas: creating quality jobs, strengthening the links between education and employment, targeting support to the most excluded (often, young women, who twice as likely to be NEET), and better managing how technology impacts the youngest members of the workforce.
The 2026 youth employment trends show that, without urgent action, the absence of meaningful work will become catastrophic for today’s young people – and have significant wider impacts across societies in general.
