Global youth unemployment rate fell to 13% in 2023 with a total of 64.9 million young people aged 15 to 24 unemployed, the lowest since the start of the 21st century, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in its 2024 Global Employment Trends (GET) for Youth report. Despite this encouraging development, there are still 65 million youth with an “unmet explicit demand for paid work”.
The drop in unemployment rates is attributed to resilient economic growth and a strong rebound in labor demand following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, recovery was uneven across regions and genders. Youth unemployment rates remained higher than pre-crisis levels in the Arab States, East Asia, and South-East Asia and the Pacific. Additionally, young women faced a double disadvantage, experiencing a sharper increase in unemployment during the pandemic and a slower decline during the recovery compared to young men.
While the decline in youth unemployment is encouraging, the report raises concerns about the broader issue of labor market exclusion among young people. A significant proportion of the world’s youth population (20.4%) were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) in 2023, indicating missed opportunities for human capital development as well as the need for targeted policies to address this challenge.
The report also notes that progress on reducing the youth NEET rate has been mixed, with one in three young people living in a country that is “off track” in achieving this goal. This is particularly concerning in low-income countries and regions where NEET rates are already high.
