Global youth unemployment rose last year, the United Nations has said, with some of the steepest increases seen in high-income countries as artificial intelligence begins to change the jobs market.
The tentative, short-lived recovery in youth labor markets that followed the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled, the U.N.'s labor agency said.
The International Labour Organization said the global youth unemployment rate rose from 12.3 percent in 2024 to 12.4 percent last year, equivalent to 67 million unemployed people aged 15 to 24.
Meanwhile the share of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) increased slightly to 20 percent, affecting more than 257 million people, the ILO said in a report.
The report found that some of the biggest rises in youth unemployment were in higher-income countries, "frustrating the aspirations of millions of young people at the start of their working lives."
"Slowing global economic growth, diminished job creation, geopolitical tensions and rapid technological change are combining to make the transition from school to decent work increasingly difficult for many young people," the report said.
The report said anxiety among young people was high, with little known about the impact of artificial intelligence on the jobs market.
Young people "are increasingly expressing fear that their jobs will be replaced by technology and that their chances at job and income stability will be blocked by unprecedented technological (and other future of work) disruptions."
