#EMPLOYMENT & SOCIETY
Youth unemployment is climbing worldwide. It isn't poor countries falling behind.
Published on August 14, 2026 · to be rechecked on August 1, 2027
That's the global unemployment rate among 15-24 year-olds in 2025, equal to 67 million young people out of work. The figure comes from the “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026” report, published August 11, 2026 by the International Labour Organization. It ends the decline seen after the pandemic: in 2023, the rate had fallen to its lowest level in two decades. The share of young people not in employment, education or training is also rising, to 20%, or 257 million people.
Where is the increase strongest?
In high-income economies. In North America, youth unemployment rose from 8.3% in 2023 to 9.8% in 2025. In Northern, Southern and Western Europe, it stands at 15%.
In other words: the constraint isn't primarily technological, it's macroeconomic. The ILO attributes the rise to slowing growth, weak job creation and geopolitical tensions. Artificial intelligence adds to that, cutting precisely into the jobs young people use to enter the labor market: administrative roles, sales, services, machine operators.
Two caveats, because they matter
- The scale so far is modest: the ILO estimates that 6.1% of jobs held by 15-29 year-olds are in occupations highly exposed to AI. If 10% of those jobs disappeared entirely, 5.6 million young people would be affected — mostly in wealthy countries.
- A global rate alone says little: it moved from 12.3% to 12.4%, and the ILO expects it to stay stable at 12.3% in 2026 and 2027. This isn't a collapse, it's a high plateau setting in.
Why it still matters: what's disappearing are the first rungs of the ladder. Highly skilled occupations — engineering, healthcare, IT — keep creating jobs. The problem isn't a lack of work, it's a lack of an entry point.
For you
- What replaces a first job once it no longer exists?
Source: International Labour Organization, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026, August 11, 2026.
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