Youth unemployment refers to the proportion of the labor force aged 15–24 who do not have a job but are seeking employment. Young adult unemployment refers to unemployment among ages 25–34.
Youth unemployment is different from unemployment in the general workforce in that youth unemployment rates are consistently higher than those of adults worldwide, with the European Commission reporting that, from 2014 - 2024, the EU youth unemployment rate has remained approximately twice as high as the general unemployment rate. Youth unemployment is a complex issue because it often intersects with other socio-economic inequalities like racism, class, gender, and caste.
Background
Around 17 percent of the world population, or almost 1.26 billion people, is between the ages of 15 and 24. The United Nations defines this age range as the period when compulsory education typically ends. Of this category, around 87% live in developing countries.
The time period spanning youth is a social construct and differs from internationally. Most European young adults are likely to live with their parents longer than those in the United States; while other young adults, like those in South Korea, may have compulsory military service.
Different definitions of unemployment can result in inconsistent reports on youth unemployment rates. Some countries do not consider people unemployed if they are not actively seeking work.
Causes There are multiple and complex causes behind youth unemployment.
From education to employment: the skills crisis The quality and relevance of education is often considered to be the root cause of youth unemployment.Global Agenda Councils -Youth Unemployment Visualization , World Economic Forum, 2013 In 2010, 25 out of 27 developed countries stated the highest unemployment rates were among people with primary education or less.Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) , ILO, Seventh Edition Yet, high education did not guarantee or even promise a decent job. In Tunisia, 40% of university graduates are unemployed against the 24% of non-graduates. This affects highly educated young women in particular. " In Turkey, the unemployment rate among university educated women is 3 times higher than that of university educated men. in Iran and the United Arab Emirates, it is nearly 3 times; and in Saudi Arabia, it is 8 times".
Beyond the necessity to ensure its access to all, education is not adequately tailored to the needs of the labour market, which in turns leads to two consequences: the inability for young people to find jobs and the inability for employers to hire the skills they need. Combined with the economic crisis and the lack of sufficient job creation in many countries, it has resulted in high unemployment rates around the world and the development of a skills crisis. Surveys suggest that up to half of all businesses have open positions for which they are struggling to find suitably qualified people.City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development, Skills Development, Attitudes and Perceptions, March 2008 One global survey found that more than 55% of employers worldwide believe there is a "skill crisis" as businesses witness a growing mismatch between the skills students learn in the education system and those required in the workplace. For many governments, a key question is how they can bridge this gap and ensure that young people are equipped with the skills employers are looking for.
Labour markets and regulations
First, a high level of employment protection regulations causes employers to be cautious about hiring more than a minimum number of workers, since they cannot easily be laid off during a downturn, or fired if a new employee should turn out to be unmotivated or incompetent.Gomez-Salvador, R and Leiner-Killinger, N. An Analysis of Youth Unemployment in the Euro Area . Frankfurt: European Central Bank, 2008 Second, the development of temporary forms of work such as internships, seasonal jobs and short-term contracts have left many young workers in precarious situations. Because their jobs are temporary, youths are often the first to be laid off when a company downsizes. If they are laid off, youths are typically not eligible for redundancy payments because they only worked with the company for a short period of time. Once this work ends, many find themselves unemployed and disadvantaged in the job search. However, some youths begin working part-time while pursuing their tertiary education. This rate is low in countries like Italy, Spain and France, but in the United States, nearly one-third of students balance both education and work.
The legitimacy of internships has begun to be questioned. The purpose of internships is to allow students or recent graduates to acquire work experience ( or a recommendation letter to add to their curriculum vitae). However, many interns have complained that they are simply performing basic grunt work, rather than learning important knowledge and skills. Whether or not these internship positions are now violating the federal rules that are in place to govern programmes such as internships remains to be seen. Their internship(s) however, seems to be the only viable alternative to job placement for the young individuals. With little to no job growth occurring, the unemployment rate among those fresh out of college and at the later end of the 15–24 aged students is approximately 13.2% as of April 2012.
Assistance and dependency
Many countries around the world provide income assistance to support unemployed youths until their labour market and economic conditions improve.OECD Action Plan for Youth , 2013 Although this support is strictly related to obligations in terms of active job search and training, it has led to an emerging debate on whether or not it creates dependency among the youth and has a detrimental effect on them.Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood: New Perspectives and Agendas, Andy Furlong, 2009 In September 2014, David Cameron announced that he plans to cut housing and employment benefits for 18- to 21-year-olds by £3,000 to £23,000Removing the safety net? Cameron targets young benefit cuts , Channel 4, 28 September 2014 to reduce dependency on government assistance and redirect funding to targeted programs for increased learning and training opportunities. The prime minister states, "At heart, I want us to effectively abolish youth unemployment. I want us to end the idea that aged 18 you can leave school, go and leave home, claim unemployment benefit and claim housing benefit." Under this plan, "most unemployed 18 to 21-year-olds would also be barred [preventing them] from claiming housing benefit in order to leave home."
Spatially Concentrated Poverty and Urbanization Earlier discussions, such as John Kain's 1968 Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis, focused on geographic barriers to job access, particularly the physical distance between where low-income youth live and where jobs are located. However, social access plays a more significant role, especially in urban areas. Many jobs, especially low-skilled ones and increasingly those requiring higher skills, are often obtained through personal networks. These networks not only help secure positions but also provide early information about job openings. As a result, youth living in high-poverty, spatially isolated communities often lack access to such networks, leaving them at a disadvantage and further trapping them in cycles of poverty with limited opportunities for upward mobility.
In addition, there is a crisis of high neighborhood joblessness in some cities, which has even more severe consequences than high neighborhood poverty. There is a meaningful difference between being poor and employed and being poor and unemployed.
Debates and Socio-Economic Theories Debates surrounding the causes of youth unemployment often center on whether it stems primarily from individual factors, such as youth behavior, educational attainment, and employer preferences, or from broader structural issues, including market dynamics, political economy, geographic disparities, and access to resources. Scholars have drawn on various social and economic theories to analyze these causes. For example, Davis and Moore's functional theory of stratification argues that social inequality serves a purpose in motivating individuals to pursue education and skilled occupations, thereby ensuring that the most qualified fill the most important societal roles. In contrast, conflict theories, including those derived from Marxist analysis and dual labor market theory, attribute persistent unemployment and unequal job access to structural and class-based inequalities within the labor market.
Some economists suggest that employment outcomes are primarily determined by the demand for an individual's skills and that income reflects productivity. Critics of this perspective, including scholars of socio-economic inequality, argue that such explanations may overlook historical and systemic factors that contribute to disparities in education, skill development, and employment opportunities, particularly among racial minority youth. These scholars contend that focusing solely on individual-level explanations risks oversimplifying a complex issue and may obscure the broader socio-political dimensions of youth unemployment.
State provisioning versus private sector approaches Debates about how best to address youth unemployment often involve differing views on the appropriate role of the public sector. Some scholars and policymakers advocate for state-led reforms, including improvements in public education, changes to the criminal justice system, the strengthening of affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws, and the provision of childcare for young parents. Others support housing policy reforms aimed at integrating diverse income groups, as well as public sector employment initiatives such as infrastructure projects. Proponents of these measures argue that such programs can simultaneously create jobs and enhance worker productivity and mobility, for instance by reducing commute times through reduced traffic congestion.
Critics of public sector interventions raise concerns about their effectiveness, noting that increased education requirements for many jobs, such as the need for a high school diploma or bachelor's degree, may limit access for low-skilled workers. In light of these limitations, some scholars and practitioners have suggested private-sector and community-based strategies to reduce youth unemployment, particularly among racial minority groups. These approaches include community development programs, increases in the minimum wage, prisoner reentry support, and targeted fatherhood initiatives aimed at young Black men. The establishment of for-profit and nonprofit job placement centers in urban areas has also been proposed as a way to connect young people to employment, provide training in transferable skills, and foster social and professional networks. Some analysts highlight the role of Black- and minority-owned businesses in these efforts, suggesting that such enterprises may be better positioned to engage with marginalized youth due to shared cultural and experiential backgrounds.
By region The individual experiences of youth unemployment vary from country to country. Definitions of youth can also vary from country to country so examination of particular countries gives a greater insight into the causes and consequences of youth unemployment.
Africa African countries define youth as someone from as young as 15 to someone well into their mid thirties, which varies from the standardized definition of the United Nations.