The latest International Labour Organisation (ILO) report on Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 has cautioned that the number of youths aged 15 to 24 who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) is alarming.
The reports noted that in spite of the improved global market for young people in the last four years, 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 report noted.
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 report stated.
The report further 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,” it added.
The Global Employment Trends for youth also expressed concern that many youth who do work, lack progress in gaining decent jobs. It said: “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 warned 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.
“None of us can look forward to a stable future when millions of young people around the world do not have decent work and, as a result, are feeling insecure and unable to build a better life for themselves and their families.
“Peaceful societies rely on three core ingredients: stability, inclusion and social justice, and decent work for the youth is at the heart of all three,” explained Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO Director-General.
On the proportion of gender, the report also revealed that young men have benefited more from the labour market recovery than young women. “The youth unemployment rates of young women and young men in 2023 were nearly equal (at 12.9 percent for young women and 13 percent for young men), unlike the pre-pandemic years when the rate for young men was higher. And the global youth NEET rate of young women doubled that of young men (at 28.1 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively) in 2023.
“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. Without equal opportunities to education and decent jobs, millions of young people are missing out on their chances for a better future,” added Houngbo.
The ILO report called for greater attention on strengthening the foundations of decent work as a pathway to countering young people’s anxieties about the world of work and reinforcing their hope for a brighter future.
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