Youth unemployment is at an all-time high. Here’s why I am still trusting God for my future

Last week, the government released a report that reveals youth unemployment figures are at an all time high. Within the next five years, one in six young people will be not in employment, education or training (NEET). 

For many young people like me, it didn’t feel like breaking news. This has been our reality for a while. The reports are simply catching up with what many of us are already living.

Yet, in some quarters, our struggles are still framed as laziness or mental health issues. While those can be factors, I’m not convinced they tell the whole story. What is happening feels bigger than that. It feels like the world around us is changing faster than many of us were prepared for.

In a world shaped by AI, technological disruption, rising living costs and industries evolving in real time, it can feel as if a 100m sprint has suddenly become a marathon with hurdles no one warned us about.

Predictability and accountability

Perhaps, the question is not simply why young people are struggling but whether we were prepared for the world we entered at all. In my opinion, for many people, the honest answer is: ‘No’. 

For years, the advice was simple: get a degree, work hard and you’ll be fine. It wasn’t just career advice, it was presented by parents, teachers, institutions, and society more broadly, as the pathway to stability. But stability no longer works in quite the same way. 

Education has not kept pace with the speed of change. Many young people are currently being trained for roles that will look completely different next year - let alone in five years’ time.  AI is no longer future disruption; it is actively reshaping industries now: departments shrinking, roles merging, jobs being redefined faster than many can adjust to or even acknowledge.  

Sometimes it feels like the track is being redesigned while we are still running on it.

On top of this, the cost of living adds another layer of pressure. Rent, transport, food - everything is rising and, for many, the challenge is no longer ambition, but survival. Independence is delayed not because of a lack of desire, but because of circumstance.

God is not waiting for things to stabilise; He is the stable ground

Then there is the job market itself. Thousands of people applying for the same roles, filtered through AI systems before a human even sees them. You know its automated when you get a rejection email at 1am.  

The deeper frustration I hear is not simply that life is difficult - we know that every generation faces difficulty - but that many followed the path they were told would lead to stability, only to find it no longer guarantees what it once promised.

So, a natural question emerges: What did I do wrong? And truthfully, the answer may be ‘nothing’. The world just simply changed. Coved-19 interrupted education, apprenticeships, placements and early career pathways. For many, key years of formation didn’t unfold as they were meant to and, often, no one has fully accounted for or acknowledged that lack.

One of the biggest gaps I see in my generation is a lack of adaptability. School teaches us how to pass exams, but not always how to pivot, transfer skills, navigate uncertainty or create opportunities when the original plan changes. Yet this is more essential than ever.

Building stability

So, what happens when stability itself feels fragile?

Certainty itself is no longer guaranteed. And perhaps that is why more people are asking deeper questions about what holds them steady.

As a believer in Jesus, I don’t think hope comes from having all the answers. I certainly don’t have them. What I do find grounding is knowing that none of this surprises God. My new favourite name of God is Jehovah Shammah (The Lord is there). Even before I’ve entered a situation, God is there. He’s not waiting for things to stabilise; He is the stable ground. He has been since the beginning of time, but he is present today and will always be - present in uncertainty, in disappointment, in unanswered questions. Present in the middle of a world changing faster than we can keep up with.

Perhaps the question is not simply how we build our lives in an unstable moment. Perhaps it is recognising who is holding us steady while we build.

In the middle of all this crisis, I’ve also noticed something quietly encouraging. I’ve seen free mentoring groups stared. Older people intentionally showing up for younger people. Informal spaces where advice is shared, doors are opened and experience is passed down without expectation.

Sometimes it feels like the track is being redesigned while we are still running on it

And honestly, it doesn’t always need to be formal. Anyone just a couple of years ahead can help someone coming behind them, far more than they realise.

For me, opportunities haven’t always come through systems - they’ve often come through word of mouth, through people, through conversations I didn’t expect and recommendations the Lord somehow prepared in advance. I haven’t always been able to “make it happen” alone.

I see a lot of people willing to move, not just cities but countries. People are looking beyond what they expected their life would look like. They’re willing to try new industries, start again somewhere else, and find places where their skills are needed and valued. While some opportunities feel like they’re disappearing, others are emerging. 

I have friends in jobs that weren’t even advertised. Roles were created for them or, just before they entered, that someone else recommended them for. Others found careers they never expected to work in. And there’s something freeing in that. Maybe it’s OK that we don’t all get there independently. I believe it’s how it was meant to be - people helping people along the way.

Because even when the map changes, and even when the race looks nothing like we expected, we were never meant to run it alone.