Geneva – Global youth unemployment rose last year, the United Nations said Tuesday, with some of the steepest increases seen in high-income countries as artificial intelligence begins to change the jobs market.

The tentative, short-lived recovery in youth labor markets that followed the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled, the U.N.’s labor agency said.

The International Labour Organization said the global youth unemployment rate rose from 12.3% in 2024 to 12.4% last year — equivalent to 67 million unemployed people aged 15 to 24.