Global youth unemployment rose last year, the United Nations said Tuesday, with some of the steepest increases seen in high-income countries as artificial intelligence begins to change the jobs market.The tentative, short-lived recovery in youth labor markets that followed the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled, the UN's labor agency said.
The International Labour Organization said the global youth unemployment rate rose from 12.3 percent in 2024 to 12.4 percent last year – equivalent to 67 million unemployed people aged 15 to 24.
Meanwhile the share of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) increased slightly to 20 percent, affecting more than 257 million people, the ILO said in its Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026 report.
First published in 2004, the report gives an annual insight into global and regional youth labor market indicators.
The report found that some of the biggest rises in youth unemployment were in higher-income countries, "frustrating the aspirations of millions of young people at the start of their working lives".
