Youth Labour Impact.pdf

The COVID-19 crisis has severely impacted the global labour market, with young people (aged 15-24) being disproportionately affected. Key statistics include:

Global youth employment fell by 8.7% in 2020, compared to a 3.7% decline for adults.
The fall in employment was more pronounced in middle-income countries.
Employment losses among young people translated into an increase in inactivity, rather than unemployment.
The share of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEET) has risen in many countries and has not yet returned to pre-crisis levels.
* Recovery in youth employment started in the third quarter of 2020, but available data suggest that the situation deteriorated again in the last quarter of 2020.

The crisis has had a significant impact on labour markets, particularly in middle-income countries, with global working hours declining by 8.8% in 2020, equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs. The disruption to the labour market in 2020 was four times greater than that witnessed during the global economic and financial crisis in 2009.

Action is needed to prevent short-term exit from the labour market turning into long-term exclusion for a generation of young people. Broader policy support is required, including measures that target the most vulnerable youth, to avoid long-term scarring effects and achieve a substantial reduction in NEET rates by 2030.