ILO’s Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026 highlights worsening youth employment prospects, with high unemployment and NEET rates, widening gender gaps, widespread informality and growing AI-related job risks, calling for human-centred AI, stronger skilling and greater formalisation.
Context: ILO released Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026: Back to the Future, highlighting worsening youth employment prospects globally.
Key Findings
- Youth unemployment: 12.4% (2025) → ~67 million youth (15–24) unemployed.
- NEET: 20% (257 million) youth in 2025, up from 19.7% in 2023.
- Gender gap: Female NEET 27.4% vs Male 13.1%.
- Informality: Nearly 9/10 young workers in low & lower-middle-income countries work informally.
Major Challenges
- Middle-skilled jobs declining: Clerical, sales, administration & manufacturing jobs shrinking.
- AI impact: Around 6.1% of jobs held by youth (15–29) highly exposed to AI-driven transformation/replacement.
- Gender barriers: Unpaid care work, discrimination and limited access to quality jobs.
Way Forward
- Human-centred AI: Protect workers while adopting new technologies.
- Skilling: Strengthen apprenticeships, technical education & lifelong learning.
- Formalisation: Expand social protection and modernise public employment services.