(Geneva, Switzerland) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) has called for stronger policies to help young people move from education to decent work amid rising informal employment, gender gaps, skills mismatches and rapid technological change.
The call comes as the ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026 report shows global youth unemployment rose from 12.3% in 2023 to 12.4% in 2025, leaving 67 million young people without work. The global rate of young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) also increased from 19.7% to 20%, representing more than 257 million young people.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, youth unemployment stood at 8.4% in 2025, while the NEET rate was 21.6%.
Sara Elder, Head of the Employment Analysis and Economic Policy Unit in the ILO Employment Policies Department and author of the report, said the regional unemployment figures should not be directly read as Kenya’s rate. She said regular labour force statistics from Kenya are not available, making it hard to comment on the exact situation there.
Elder said country level data based on national statistics could be used to examine Kenya, while ILO modelled estimates provide comparisons between Eastern Africa and other African regions.
On high levels of informal employment among young people, Elder said the move to formal work requires action covering job growth, social protection, regulatory frameworks, enterprise development, skills development, compliance and enforcement. She said the concept of informality is complex, and so is the policy approach to addressing it.
Elder said enterprise registration was one entry point, noting that workers in registered enterprises have greater chances of accessing basic labour protections such as social security and paid leave. She advised governments to simplify registration and compliance procedures, provide incentives to encourage formalisation and extend labour and social protection to previously excluded informal workers.
On the gender gap in youth NEET rates, Elder said care and labour market policies were critical. Reducing NEET rates among women requires major progress in care policies as well as labour market policies, she said. The report shows more than two thirds of young people globally in NEET status in 2025 were women.
On artificial intelligence, Elder urged governments to take a proactive approach to technological change to protect young people from job losses and discrimination. She said a human in command approach means setting limits to reduce automation that sidelines human intelligence and discrimination that may be embedded in recruitment algorithms.
Elder called for lifelong learning and social protection systems, alongside policies supporting decent work and productive employment. She said concerns raised in the report about risks AI poses to entry level jobs reinforce the urgency for governments to move beyond reactive approaches and plan for AI driven labour market changes.
Jealous Chirove, Senior Employment Specialist at ILO Pretoria, said Kenya should strengthen its employment policy and revise Sessional Paper No. 4 of 2013 on National Employment Policy and Strategy to respond to digital transformation, youth employment and climate change.
Chirove said Kenya’s priority should be sustaining economic growth while ensuring job creation benefits young jobseekers. This means putting in place integrated and coordinated macroeconomic, sectoral and investment policies that aim to create decent jobs in the economy, he said.
An integrated youth employment policy should link education and training with labour market policies while reaching young people disconnected from institutions or living in remote and marginalised communities, Chirove said.
Chirove noted that most young Kenyans continue to take up multiple informal jobs because of limited formal sector jobs offering decent wages and social protection. He said statistics from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics show the informal economy creates more than 84% of jobs in the country.
On the rising NEET rate in Sub-Saharan Africa, Chirove said the growing youth population was increasing pressure on already limited decent employment opportunities. He said many countries expect to reap a demographic dividend, but this will not happen if young people are not in productive employment and contributing to the production of goods and services.
Chirove called for investment in education, employable skills and policies that stimulate job creation. He said young people’s energy and ideas should not be left unused or diverted into non-productive activities that could fuel social and political tensions.
On AI opportunities, Chirove said employment growth among young people continued in knowledge based and technical occupations, including science, engineering, health and information and communication technologies. He said digital skills should be included in education and training curricula but combined with cognitive skills such as planning and problem solving.
Chirove said Kenya’s expanding digital infrastructure and technology ecosystem could continue creating opportunities for employment and business development.
On graduate unemployment, Chirove said the challenge was more likely to stem from inadequate modern sector jobs than an insufficient skills base among young graduates. He said employers faced with large volumes of applications often inflate job experience and competency requirements. This job experience inflation will always work against young job entrants who have little experience to report, he said.
Chirove also cited possible mismatches between labour supply and demand, with universities producing graduates in fields where demand may be limited while some occupations lack adequate skilled workers.
Francis Atwoli, Secretary General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions Kenya (COTU-K), said the changing labour market was exposing young people to new forms of insecure work, including ride hailing, delivery services, online freelancing, digital platforms and outsourced work.
Atwoli said COTU-K was advocating for the formalisation and organisation of workers in emerging and informal sectors. He said the union continues to call out all forms of technological innovation that seek to transfer business risks to young workers while denying them rights normally associated with employment.
Atwoli said workers should enjoy freedom of association and collective bargaining, fair and predictable pay, occupational safety and health protections, social security and effective grievance mechanisms.
Atwoli raised concern over algorithmic management, calling for transparency and human oversight where technology affects employment, wages, working time or working conditions. He said Kenya cannot build a modern digital economy while maintaining a social protection system designed mainly around traditional permanent employment.
On experience requirements, Atwoli described the situation facing young graduates as an experience trap. He said young people cannot get employment without experience, yet they might not acquire experience because employers will not give them their first opportunity.
Atwoli called for stronger school to work and training to employment frameworks. He said apprenticeships, graduate trainee programmes, internships and structured workplace learning should become genuine pathways into decent employment rather than cheap or unpaid labour. He also urged employers to recognise competencies gained through internships, industrial attachments, volunteering and entrepreneurship.
Atwoli said COTU-K’s engagement with government and international partners, particularly the ILO, was anchored in tripartism and social dialogue. He said youth employment policies should be judged not only by the number of jobs created but also by their quality, security and sustainability.