Around 20 percent of young people across the globe have disengaged from traditional work, training and education.
The International Labour Organisation’s Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 report says young people are still not seeing the full rewards of economic recovery.
The organisation is particularly concerned about the so-called NEET (not in employment, education or training) group, which is heavily skewed towards women.
Figures from 2023 showed 28 percent of young women internationally did not show up in the data as working or learning. The figure for men was 13 percent.
“Only six percent of the world’s youth population were unemployed in 2023, but a much larger share – 20.4 percent – were not in employment, education or training,” the report said.
“This gives a significantly broader picture of labour market exclusion among young people, while also signalling some missed opportunities in human capital development.”
While advanced countries had made some progress reducing the NEET rate, low-income countries, particularly in Africa, were struggling to address the disengagement.
The report said, despite the positive signals in global economic and labour market indicators, young people were reporting growing levels of anxiety about their future.
“Whether borne out by reality or not, young people’s perceptions about the future play a significant role in their personal well-being and motivation levels and in shaping their decisions about future educational, labour market and civic engagement,” the report said.
“To help ease youth anxieties, institutions will need to guide young people through the complexities of the school-to-work and youth-to-adulthood transitions.
“Helping young people to keep their hopes alive must become a shared mission involving all segments of society.”
Globally, the 2023 youth unemployment rate, at 13 percent, represents a 15-year low and a fall from the pre-pandemic rate of 13.8 percent in 2019.
For young people in work, The ILO noted the lack of progress in gaining “decent” jobs.
“Globally, more than half of young workers are in informal employment,” the report said.
“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.”
ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo said young men had benefited more from the labour market recovery than young women.
“The report reminds us that opportunities for young people are highly unequal; with many young women, young people with limited financial means or from any minority background still struggling,” he said.
“Without equal opportunities to education and decent jobs, millions of young people are missing out on their chances for a better future.”
The full report is on the ILO website.
