Youth and skills
Youth employment and the school-to-work transition
Getting from classroom to a first stable job is the hardest step in many careers. This page explains the main indicators, shows how they have moved since 2005 and lists the policy tools that the ILO recommendations point to.
Two indicators, two different questions
Youth unemployment and the NEET rate are often mixed up. They answer different questions, so read them together rather than choosing one.
| Indicator | Counts | Divided by | What it misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Youth unemployment rate | Young people aged 15-24 without work who are looking for it | The youth labour force (those working or looking) | Students are outside the labour force, so a small base can inflate the rate |
| NEET rate | Young people neither in employment nor in education or training | All young people of that age group | Includes people who are inactive for reasons other than job search, such as caring duties |
How youth unemployment moved
The chart follows six countries with very different training systems. Germany, Austria and Denmark rely heavily on apprenticeship-style training, Spain and Korea have different histories, and the United States is a large labour market with a small apprenticeship sector. In the latest year of our snapshot, youth unemployment across the twenty countries ranged from 3.9% in Japan to 59.9% in South Africa.
- Austria
- Germany
- Denmark
- Spain
- South Korea
- United States
Data: World Bank World Development Indicators, which republish ILO modelled estimates (ILOSTAT) and UNESCO Institute for Statistics enrolment data. Snapshot retrieved 2026-10-23; source database last updated 2026-10-08. All values are modelled estimates and can be revised.
NEET rates by country
The NEET rate shows how many young people are neither working nor studying. A low rate suggests that school, training or work absorbs most of the age group, whatever the route.
Policies that help the transition
R195 does not prescribe a single model. It lists measures that countries combine in different ways, and the following five come up most often in the text.
- Career guidance before the choice is made. Part VIII of R195 asks for vocational and career information, job placement and support services throughout life, not only at school-leaving age.
- Learning in real workplaces. Workplace learning and work experience should be recognised and expanded, with on- and off-the-job training arranged together with providers. See the apprenticeship country overview.
- Skills that are recognised. A national qualifications framework and credible certification make skills portable between employers and regions.
- Targeted help. Government carries the main responsibility for training the unemployed and people entering or re-entering the labour market, including those with special needs.
- Evidence. Regular surveys and indicators broken down by age and gender allow policies to be tested; see the data tables.
Reading the numbers with care
International comparisons are helpful but never exact. Use them to ask better questions, not to rank countries mechanically.
- Modelled estimates fill gaps where surveys are missing, so recent years can change.
- A country with many students in the labour force can show a high unemployment rate for a small group of young people.
- Labour markets differ in how they classify trainees and apprentices, which affects both employment and NEET figures.
Primary data portals: ILOSTAT and World Bank indicator SL.UEM.NEET.ZS.