New ILO report underscores potential in green energy in job creation
Youth unemployment remains a significant challenge in the global labour market, according to the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2025.
Despite some growth in global employment, youth unemployment has stayed high at 12.6% in 2024, with the global unemployment rate remaining steady at five per cent.
"Youth unemployment continues to be significantly higher than the adult unemployment rate, in some countries three to four times as high," the report stated. "Upper-middle-income countries' progress in youth unemployment has stagnated; their rates of youth unemployment have not returned to the pre-COVID-19 levels of 2019."
According to the report, the share of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET) also stood at 20.4% in 2024. The NEET rate for women is also much higher at 28.2%, compared to men at 13.1%.
"The consistently high NEET rates are indicative of the ongoing labour market exclusion of young people as well as a missed opportunity to build human capital," the report stated.
Economic recovery helped in generating more jobs for people, but the ILO report noted that this recovery is projected to "gradually lose steam" and prevent stronger labour market recovery.
"Rapidly decelerating inflation rates and strong growth in a few major economic centres have helped the global economy to stabilise," the report stated.
"Headwinds have set in, however, as geopolitical frictions have risen and both monetary and fiscal policies have returned to pre-pandemic stances."
There is opportunity in green energy, according to the report, which noted that renewable energy jobs are growing to 16.2 million worldwide.
Job creation, however, is unequally distributed across the globe.
"Almost half of new green job opportunities have been in Eastern Asia; there have been few decent work benefits in other developing and emerging economies," the report stated. "Northern America and Asia and the Pacific have attracted the bulk of new job creation in renewable energy, China alone accounting for 46% of all renewable energy jobs."
Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO director-general, said decent work and productive employment are essential to achieve social justice and the Sustainable Development Goals.
"To avoid exacerbating already strained social cohesion, escalating climate impacts, and surging debt, we must act now to tackle labour market challenges and create a fairer, more sustainable future," he stated in a statement.