Why the youth jobs crisis is becoming global

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Apprenticeships may be one way for young people to get into the workforce and learn important skills while being paidImage: Joerg Carstensen/picture allianceAdvertisement

The youth job crisis that first became obvious in China points to major economic and social problems that governments and businesses need to address.

Last year, unemployment, weak job prospects and a general lack of economic opportunities drove young people onto the streets in Kenya, Peru, Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines.

This year, concerns about youth unemployment have added fuel to protests in South Africa and Morocco. In India, they helped give rise to the Cockroach Janta Party, a movement that started as a satirical social media project but quickly gained national attention.

China's youth unemployment problem

Youth unemployment refers to the share of young people, typically aged 15 to 24, who are actively seeking work but cannot find it. The rate is usually higher than overall unemployment because young people have less experience and networking opportunities, but that gap is widening in a growing number of countries.

China became an early example of the problem as university enrolment and graduate numbers grew faster than job creation, contributing to anxiety, long job searches and underemployment during a period of weaker economic growth.

In May, the official unemployment rate among ​urban 16-to 24-year-olds in ‌China was ​15.6%, according to Reuters news agency based on National Bureau of Statistics data.

While this represents the lowest level ⁠in 11 ​months, it remains three times higher than the overall unemployment rate of around 5%. Since 2023, the Chinese youth unemployment figures exclude the millions of university students, making comparisons with older data harder.

Is AI reshaping entry-level job opportunities?

China is not the only country with weak growth, slowing upward mobility, or a sense of intergenerational inequality.

In other countries, technology, sluggish hiring and rising competition have also weakened the link between a university degree and a secure white-collar career.

Besides the growing number of graduates, another factor eating away at confidence is the fear that artificial intelligence (AI) could turn into a massive entry-level job destroyer. Experts are not yet clear about its impact.<br>A decade after Brexit, youth in Britain want the EU back<br>To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

"In the UK, new postings for graduate jobs have fallen faster than for non-graduate jobs, and many of these roles are highly exposed to AI," said Golo Henseke, an associate professor in applied economics at University College London.

His research has shown that "where firms have taken up AI faster, employment of 15-to 24-year-olds has grown more slowly, while prime-age employment holds up." But for now, the AI-effect is small compared to the regular business cycle.

Sara Elder, a youth employment expert at the Geneva-based International Labour Organization (ILO), agrees. AI may be one of the current drivers of stagnating youth employment, but she considers other factors more important.

Right now, economies are not dynamic and job creation is just not keeping pace with the number of young people seeking jobs, says Elder.

"This is then exacerbated by the tendency of employers to raise hiring criteria in ways that make it more difficult for young people with little job experience to get their foot in the door," said Elder.

What type of jobs are impacted where?

Without these entry-level jobs, young people may never get the experience they need for better jobs. Consequences could be lower consumption, lower home ownership rates and delayed family formation — not to mention widespread frustration.

Currently across Europe, there is no broad youth jobs crisis, says Henseke, who specializes in education, labor markets and human resources.

Since 2022, the share of young people not in employment, education, or training has increased in only a handful of European countries like Austria and Germany and fallen in much of southern Europe.

"Youth unemployment is not new to Europe either," said Henseke. "It was severe after the financial crisis, and the biggest improvements since have been in the countries that struggled most then."

Youth employment growth is strong in Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, even if the quality of jobs is low, says the ILO's Sara ElderImage: Stefan Sauer/dpa/picture allianceBut the ILO found that between 2023 and 2025 youth unemployment rates rose in eight of the world's 11 regions, like East Asia, North America (the US and Canada), Southeast...