For a time, Millennials had to deal with the accusation of being “do-nothings.” Today, Gen Z suffers from the stigma.
What stigma is it about? For Millennials, around the beginning of the 2010s, the term NEET circulated. It stands as an abbreviation for a stigma: not in education, employment, or training (English: Not in Education, Employment or Training). Malicious tongues also say: do-nothing.
A report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that Generation Z is increasingly facing this infamous designation (via Ilostat).
Who belongs to Gen Z and the Millennials? Gen Z includes everyone born between 1996 and 2012. Before that are the Millennials or Generation Y starting from 1980.
Generation Z in trouble
How is Gen Z doing in the labor market? Although Gen Z has not reached the former peak of unemployment among 15 to 24-year-olds, the situation looks concerning. In the early 2000s, nearly one in five young people was affected by NEET on a global average, reports the labor organization. In 2022, a figure of 23.5 percent emerges from the data.
The report indicates that the situation had already worsened before the pandemic: From the low point reached in 2012 of around 22%, the rate slowly increased. With the pandemic, it then jumped to nearly 25% and has since been slowly decreasing again.
Looking at the global distribution, it becomes clear how different the value is depending on the country. The Middle East, Africa, and Asia tend to have much higher values than Europe or North America, according to another publication from Ilostat on the subject.
- Germany: 7.4 percent
- Brazil 20.4 percent
- Argentina: 16.1 percent
- Italy: 15.9 percent
- USA: 10.9 percent
- Russia: 12.2 percent
- Israel: 15 percent
- India: 25.9 percent
- South Africa: 31.7 percent
Aren’t the differences very small? Even though 25% and 22% are close together, this 3% difference represents millions of young people. For societies in the long term, it does not matter whether they find themselves in this situation without fault or by free will.
The International Labour Organization therefore calls on all governments worldwide in its report to take measures to bring more young people into education, study, work, or school.
Why are so many young people not employed? The International Labour Organization cites various reasons for this, including the pandemic, wars, and other crises. All of these have contributed to stalling the global economy. NEET is a result of the currently difficult situation. Young adults generally find themselves in a position of weakness both in our countries and in poorer nations when uncertainties arise, it states.
For those who want to know more about the problems of young people in the labor market, there is a wealth of background information and surveys on the topic, for example, in this article on MeinMMO: Generation Z is often too late, wastes work time, and often suffers from mental problems, surveys show
