Delegate Brings 32.8% Youth Graduate Unemployment to Dubai AI Jobs Meeting
Updated
Updated · World Economic Forum · Oct 12
Delegate Brings 32.8% Youth Graduate Unemployment to Dubai AI Jobs Meeting
3 articles · Updated · World Economic Forum · Oct 12
Summary
Dubai’s Global Future Leaders meeting will hear a call for investment in youth-employment infrastructure in the Global South, arguing AI is disrupting entry-level work before many countries built pathways from education to jobs.
Pakistan is the case study: unemployment among graduates aged 20-24 stands at 32.8%, while national graduate unemployment is 18.3%, both above the overall 14.7% jobless rate.
The mismatch is widening in tech. CS/IT graduates from HEC-accredited programs are projected to rise from 28,091 in 2024 to about 62,000 by 2028, but major tech employers hired only 13,350 fresh graduates in 2024.
Community-led models have shown demand—one Khyber Pakhtunkhwa grassroots network says it reached more than 1,000 young people in four years—but the article argues peer programs cannot replace formal mentorship, career guidance and industry links.
The broader warning is global: the Global South holds 80% of the world’s workforce, while WEF research says 22% of current jobs will face structural churn by 2030 and more than one in three young workers are in AI-exposed roles.
As AI eliminates traditional entry-level roles, how can Pakistan's massive wave of IT graduates secure their first jobs without formal career infrastructure?
With over 80 percent of jobs in the informal sector, what hidden systemic barriers are keeping female tech graduates out of the workforce?