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".

"Slowing global economic growth, diminished job creation, geopolitical tensions and rapid technological change are combining to make the transition from school to decent work increasingly difficult for many young people," the report said.

The Geneva-based ILO said the youth unemployment rate is expected to flatline at 12.3 percent in 2026 and 2027.

Nonetheless, in years when the youth unemployment rate and the NEET rate "rise together, we raise the red flag", Sara Elder, head of the ILO's employment analysis and economic policy unit, told a press conference.

AI and anxiety

The report said anxiety among young people was high, with little known about the impact of artificial intelligence on the jobs market.

Young people "are increasingly expressing fear that their jobs will be replaced by technology and that their chances at job and income stability will be blocked by unprecedented technological [and other future of work] disruptions".

Sukti Dasgupta, director of the ILO's employment, skills and sustainable enterprises department, told reporters it was too soon to speak directly about causality between the rise of AI and growing unemployment among young people.

However, "the coincidence is quite real", she said, calling for more research in the months ahead.

Dasgupta said it was a time of "great uncertainty and fragility in the global economy", as "new risks associated with AI are emerging. None of this bodes well for young people."

The report found that jobs which traditionally served as entry points into the labor market for young people -- including office and administrative posts, sales positions and manufacturing jobs -- are decreasing.

"A generation that cannot find decent work cannot build its future with confidence," said ILO chief Gilbert Houngbo.

"When young people are locked out of quality employment, countries lose talent, productivity and social cohesion. Creating decent jobs for young people is not just a social imperative, it is one of the smartest investments a country can make."

Regional trends

At the sub-regional level, the largest increases in youth unemployment were in northern Africa, northern America and northern, southern and western Europe.

In central and western Asia, and in eastern Europe, the declining youth unemployment rate was offset by the rise in NEETs.

While both rates declined in Latin America and the Caribbean, these results were driven in part by declining youth population sizes.

The Arab states and northern Africa "are consistently the sub-regions with the world's highest youth unemployment rates", the report said, at 26.2 percent and 22.6 percent respectively.

With the indicators rising from already high levels, "it signals a deepening of the already well-rooted structural barriers that push young talent – young women particularly –  to the margins of productive society"

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