The global labour market outlook for young people has improved in the last four years, and the upward trend is expected to continue for two more, according to a new International Labour Organisation (ILO) report.
However, the report, titled Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 (GET for Youth), cautions that the number of 15- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is concerning, and that the post-COVID-19 pandemic employment recovery has not been universal. Young people in certain regions and many young women are not seeing the benefits of the economic recovery.
The 2023 youth unemployment rate, at 13 percent, equivalent to 64.9 million people, represents a 15-year low and a fall from the pre-pandemic rate of 13.8 percent in 2019. It is expected to fall further to 12.8 percent this year and next. The picture, however, is not the same across regions. In the Arab States, East Asia and South-East Asia and the Pacific, youth unemployment rates were higher in 2023 than in 2019.
The GET for Youth also cautioned that young people face other “headwinds” in finding success in the world of work. It notes that too many young people across the globe are NEET and opportunities to access decent jobs remain limited in emerging and developing economies. One in five young people, or 20.4 percent, globally were NEET in 2023. Two in three of these NEETs were female.
For the youth who do work, the report noted the lack of progress in gaining decent jobs. Globally, more than half of young workers are in informal employment. Only in high- and upper-middle-income economies are the majority of young workers today in a regular, secure job. And three in four young workers in low-income countries will get only a self-employed or temporary paid job.
It cautioned that the continuing high NEET rates and insufficient growth of decent jobs are causing growing anxiety among today’s youth, who are also the most educated youth cohort ever.
The report called for increased and more effective investment, including boosting job creation with a specific target on jobs for young women, strengthening the institutions that support young people through their labour market transitions including young NEETs, integrating employment and social protection for youth, and tackling global inequalities through improved international cooperation, public-private partnerships and financing for development.
