Canadian kids aren’t the only young people struggling to find work.
Driving the news: A new report from the United Nations labour agency found that global youth unemployment jumped to 12.4% in 2025, with ~67 million young people currently out of work. France leads G7 countries with a youth unemployment rate of 21.1%.
While more 15-24-year-olds were able to find work following the pandemic, the report found that the quantity and quality of jobs typically available to young people have since deteriorated.
Canada’s youth unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 14.6% last September to 12.6% last month, but remains nearly double the national average of 6.4%.
Why it’s happening: Everyone wants to blame AI for stealing entry-level jobs (and there is some truth to that), but weaker economic growth globally has stalled hiring overall. When hiring slows, young people — who have less experience to draw on — usually feel the effects first. Last one in the door, first one out, as they say.
Young workers also tend to be concentrated in industries like retail and food service that are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks and, in turn, hiring freezes and layoffs.
Why it matters: Young people failing to land jobs could have long-term repercussions as a large cohort of Canadians miss out on crucial early-career experience. A Deloitte report found that failure to address youth unemployment will result in an $18.5 billion hit to GDP by 2034. Globally, the youth jobs crisis is now spurring unrest in several nations.—LA
