Why the youth jobs crisis is becoming global
Young people in much of the world face growing competition for entry-level jobs as graduate numbers rise, hiring slows and AI-driven disruption adds uncertainty to
Young people in much of the world face growing competition for entry-level jobs as graduate numbers rise, hiring slows and AI-driven disruption adds uncertainty to career prospects. 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 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. A decade after Brexit, youth in Britain want the EU back 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.
The BriefWire