Global Trends in Youth Employment: Key Statistics and Cultural Commentary

The issue of youth employment receives constant attention of global organizations, governments, and researchers. Young people have the potential to positively reshape the national and global economies. Furthermore, the youth also constantly reshape the social, cultural, technological, and political environments. Global unemployment rate among youth, however, is three times higher than among older workers. In 2023, one in five young people did not work, study, or acquire professional skills. The negative factors of the Ukrainian youth labor market have been significantly exacerbated by the war, which has caused an economic crisis in the country, a huge migration of young people, and growing uncertainty for the remaining youth. This article identifies global trends in the youth labor market to formulate promising directions for the transformation of Ukraine's youth employment policy. The article uses analytical and statistical sources from the ILO, UN, UNESCO, UNICEF, OECD, WB, IMF, YBI, and leading international consulting organizations, as well as research by Ukrainian and global authors on current changes and contours of youth employment policy transformations.