By Michael Oche
The African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) has called for urgent and pragmatic action to address the growing unemployment and skills gap among young people on the continent, warning that 55.6 million youths in sub-Saharan Africa were not in employment, education or training in 2025.
The organisation said the figure was projected to rise to 58.9 million by 2027, describing the trend as a major threat to Africa’s development and the aspirations of its youthful population.
ITUC-Africa made the call in a statement issued by its General Secretary, Akhator Joel Odigie, to commemorate the 2026 International Youth Day, themed, “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations.”
The labour organisation noted that Africa remained the world’s youngest continent, with 60 per cent of its population below the age of 25, but expressed concern that the continent’s increasingly educated and connected young population continued to face exclusion from decent work and social protection.
According to ITUC-Africa, development plans, employment policies and youth strategies across African economies must be backed by adequate financing, genuine collaboration, inclusiveness and accountability to ensure effective implementation.
It warned that failures in these areas were partly responsible for the desperate migration journeys undertaken by African youths across deserts and seas in search of better opportunities.
“Migration must be a choice, not an escape from unemployment,” the organisation said, stressing that young migrant workers deserved equal treatment, decent wages, social protection and freedom of association.
ITUC-Africa also linked growing youth disenchantment to what it described as democracies that conduct elections but fail to deliver economic justice.
The organisation raised concern over the continent’s widening inequality, noting that four African billionaires hold more wealth than 750 million Africans combined, while Africa loses an estimated $88.6 billion annually through illicit financial flows.
It insisted that the continent’s natural and economic resources must be deployed to improve the living conditions of its people.
To reverse the trend, ITUC-Africa called on African governments to translate youth aspirations into funded employment programmes, fair taxation, employment-intensive industrialisation, skills development, quality public services and expanded social protection.
The organisation further called for the ratification and implementation of International Labour Organisation Convention No. 193, aimed at securing decent work and collective bargaining rights in the platform economy.
It also challenged trade unions to take more concrete steps towards addressing the changing nature of work, rather than merely lamenting the difficulties facing young workers.
“Trade unions must move from lamentation to action,” ITUC-Africa said, pledging to organise young workers across the formal, informal, migrant and platform economies, while strengthening their representation and holding governments accountable.
The organisation said Africa’s diverse circumstances required different approaches, but argued that young people across the continent shared common aspirations for decent work, dignity and economic opportunity.
“Different contexts require urgent, responsive and pragmatic solutions. Our common aspiration is clear: an Africa where every young person can work and live in dignity is possible and within our reach,” it said.
