For two years in a row, global unemployment and inactivity among youths aged 15 to 24 has inched up again across world regions.
As seen in data by the International Labor Organization, the coronavirus pandemic caused these rates to go up in 2020, but the situation improved again gradually, in 2022 and 2023 falling below pre-pandemic levels.
But, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, since then, rates have been on a slow upswing once more, reaching 12.4 percent of youths in the labor force who are unemployed and 20 percent of youths overall who are either unemployed or not engaging in any activity like education, training, employment or looking for work.
You will find more infographics at Statista
According to the recently released ILO report Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026, progress made in the area of youth employment post-Covid has come to an "abrupt halt" as uncertainty and fragility have taken over global economies, GDP growth has remained subdued and inflation has been high. The report also points out that there has not only been a deterioration in the quantity, but also the quality of jobs for youths globally, meaning that many are underemployed or work jobs that don't match their qualifications. Especially the group of NEETs (who are neither in employment, education or training) is made up of a high number of women and girls, who tend to focus on housework and family care responsibilities more often.
12.4 percent unemployed young people between the ages of 15 and 24 equal 67 million individuals worldwide, while the NEET rate of 20 percent translates to 257 million youths. Unemployment rates were higher among young men, while NEET status was more widespread among young women.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 05:45Authored by Guy de la Bédoyère via The Daily Sceptic,
Friday, August 21st 2026 was a slow news day. You could tell because the BBC's Radio 4 6 O'Clock News led with the vacuous revelation Harry and Meghan are coming back to the UK. Slightly less uninteresting was the second story, the disastrous case against the Mail and how Harry and his fellow litigants are going to have to pay tens of millions of pounds to the newspaper in compensation.
There were more vacuous revelations to come. The 'other' top story was the impending catastrophe promised by the mounting El Niño crisis in the Pacific. The 6 O'Clock News was typical of the corporation's output for the day.
This is how the bulletin flagged up the story in the headlines:
[Announcer] Dire warnings from the Met Office about the effects of what it describes as an unprecedented El Niño event.
Cue then to the Voice of Doom, in this case the obliging Professor Adam Scaife - head of the Met Office's long-range forecasting and a professor of applied maths at the University of Exeter - who was identified later in the bulletin:
We think that when it peaks in November and December it's likely to be [a] record event, beyond anything we've seen in living memory.
That sort of phrasing, readers may recall, is straight out of the 17th-century playbook of weather catastrophising, as I discussed in a piece for this website in 2024 ('They Were Catastrophising the Climate in the 17th Century'). Instead of the modern 'since records began', Scaife had opted for a version of the 17th Century's equivalent. Here's a quote from that piece I wrote:
All summer long there were "so great rains, that produced greater floods than in the memory of man", wrote John Locke in 1673.
Such methods of emphasising a point are a handy way of terrorising oneself and other people because they evoke a sense of something both unprecedented and terrifying, predicated entirely on the nebulous limits of human memory without even specifying what that amounts to - or doesn't.
Just look at the BBC's wording.
Not only are there "warnings", but they are also "dire". 'Dire' comes from the Latin word dirus, which means something 'awful' or 'ominous'. Appropriately enough, it was a word often used by the Romans in a religious context when confronted with a bad omen, either in the form of a natural event or as the result of a sacrifice, such as the examination of the animal victim's entrails.
There was something overwhelmingly religious about the bulletin's coverage of the El Niño apocalypse because it served as no more than a harbinger of doom - something that might or might not happen and, even if it does, we are in no position to know exactly what form it will take.
It was ironic, but typical, that a scientist confronted with something he doesn't know for a fact but is only guessing resorted to religious-style phrasing. This was exactly the sort of behaviour we saw during Covid too. The phenomenon is in fact entirely normal for most human beings. We live in a world of uncertainty and there is a latent desire among all people to believe they live in exceptional times.
Scientists are all too inclined, in circumstances where they do not know what will happen, to use their scientific status to substantiate such claims. This affords their pronouncements an aura of false credibility - both to themselves and their audiences.
The full item was delivered by the BBC's Environment Correspondent Matt McGrath (spin forward in the bulletin to 07:26). It included more of Scaife - he has worked in the meteorology field since the early 1990s - who expanded darkly: "I have never seen an event like this in our forecasts."
McGrath:
[Vague sounds of weather and barely audible Spanish fading down] In Peru this week the famous Machu Picchu tourist trail closed because of flooding, said to be [my italics] linked to a strengthening El Niño. This is the naturally occurring pattern that shifts weather across the globe. Scientists are growing ever more concerned [my italics] that this year's event will be exceptionally strong with widespread impacts.
Let's linger with McGrath's intro for a moment. First, note how he used the words "said to be" when suggesting that the flooding might be linked to a "strengthening El Niño". "Said to be"? That's like a medieval rumour and as fatuous as Percy's observation to Blackadder that "They do say that the Infanta's eyes are more beautiful than the famous Stone of Galveston." He also uses "ever more concerned" to suggest a crisis which isn't only impending but is also becoming worse, to add some gratuitous dynamic to the story.
McGrath continued: "Professor Adam Scaife is the Met Office's head of long-range forecasting:"
[Scaife] I have never seen an event like this in our forecasts. The tropical Pacific is warming faster than I've ever seen. We think that when it peaks in November and December it's likely to be [a] record event, unprecedented beyond anything we've seen in living memory.
You'll note that although this was depicted as a sound scientific opinion, the words of Scaife quoted amounted to no more than a personal anecdote. It was unsubstantiated - with no data or detail of any kind supplied (perhaps McGrath cut it out). Naturally, it also went completely unchallenged. It's at moments like this that scientists seem entirely to forget the scientific principle that you should test every hypothesis to destruction, not make vague pronouncements based on your perception of the utility and relevance of the limits of human memory.
McGrath continued:
In Panama drought has drained the freshwater lakes that feed the shipping canal, forcing the authorities to cut the number of vessels passing through. And the effects are already reaching people's pockets. India, the world's second-biggest sugar producer, is now importing for the first time in a decade. A weak monsoon has hit production, and prices have jumped 40% in two months.
Despite the assertion that the event is unprecedented, in July 1920 and during the 1930s drought brought water levels in Gatún Lake dangerously low, nearly forcing closures of the canal and prompting major new dam construction to secure its water supply. This led to the building of the Madden Dam across the Chagres River in 1935 to create Lake Alajuela, which bolstered the water supply.
As for India, McGrath - who appeared only to have followed other news releases on Friday - didn't mention that India is also one of the largest sugar consumers in the world and thus especially vulnerable to fluctuations in the crop. A 'decade' is hardly a long time in world history for a start. As it happens, India's sugar production has increased by a staggering 7.6 times since the mid-1970s, meaning that El Niño aside, any environmental fluctuations are going to have more visible effects.
Moreover, any problems caused by high rainfall have been compounded by Red Rot and Top Borer disease, as well as stockpiling and speculation (according to the Financial Express). This illustrates just how complex these scenarios are, and the banality of attributing them to single causes.
McGrath ploughed on:
And it's not just food that's likely to be impacted. The same weather turmoil could push up energy prices too. Professor Amanda Maycock [of the Met Office Academic Partnership] is from the University of Leeds:
[Maycock] I think we're definitely looking at the compound effect of different influences from a weather and climate perspective - you know, the prices of things like liquid natural gas imports and so on can be affected by demand that's happening elsewhere in the world, which may well be affected by the El Niño if there are droughts in certain regions, reductions in the production of hydroelectricity, for example in places like Brazil. That could have a knock-on effect for us here in the UK.
Apart from observing the eternal fact that the weather and climate affect human activity, Maycock didn't seem to say much of consequence at all - at least in what McGrath used. But note the opening words "I think" and the later "could have" (no more valid than 'might not').
McGrath wasn't finished. He had a moment of lucidity when he acknowledged that there's no evidence climate change is affecting El Niño, but he quickly got a grip and found a way to leave listeners quaking in their boots at the prospect of a hotter year next year - so "scientists say":
The effects depend on where you are in the globe. As mentioned, a weaker monsoon in India but for the UK the prediction is for more rain in a wetter, stormier autumn. El Niño is a naturally occurring event and there's no clear evidence that climate change is making it stronger but it's arriving in an already warmer world and that, scientists say, is what will sharpen its impacts. But all the extra heat that's set to release from the ocean into the atmosphere, next year is likely to be the hottest ever recorded.
Even if the predictions turn out to be true, McGrath showed no interest in what we might do about it. The story seemed purely concerned with the prospect of doom.
The bulletin continued with a piece by the BBC's Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, about how "unusual" the current El Niño is. He harked back to the last extreme El Niño event in 1877 but darkly reminded listeners that the world is now 1.4 degrees warmer than in "pre-industrial times", an era the parameters of which he did not bother to specify, presumably because 'pre-industrial times' is simply the next vague block of time always wheeled out before 'living memory'. As it happens, just as a for instance, between 250 BC and AD 400 Roman Europe was around 1-2 degrees warmer than the 20th Century.
In the Roman world, and almost anywhere else in antiquity, anything that seemed deviant was recorded and scrutinised, whether it involved a meteor falling from the sky, a talking cow, a swarm of bees, a maidservant giving birth to a boy with only one hand or anything else that looked or sounded peculiar. By such signs, promising or ominous, the Romans ruled their lives. The statesman Cicero wondered whether the superstitious observations and the attention paid to omens and their interpretation amounted to self-induced imprisonment. This mentality has endured into modern times.
As ever, the whole El Niño news item really amounted to nothing but speculation and glossed over the fact that since time immemorial human beings have had to cope with extreme weather events and climate change of all types and hues.
When modern scientists bolster their claims with terms like 'I think', 'could be' and 'anything we've seen in living memory', and useful-idiot journalists substantiate their stories with 'scientists say', I'm not sure what the difference is between now and the ancient world.
One thing is certain: these terms ain't science, but perhaps it takes a non-scientist to notice. Whatever happens next year is beyond our control, so when and if it does, we'll just have to cope with it.
Appropriately enough for such pap, by Saturday August 22nd the story had disappeared from the bulletins, gone with the wind, though no doubt it'll be back like a bad penny on the next slow news day.
"Science requires an almost complete openness to all ideas. On the other hand, it requires the most rigorous and uncompromising scepticism."
- Carl Sagan, in 'Wonder and Scepticism', Skeptical Inquirer (vol. 19, no. 1), 1995
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 05:00Minimum wages vary widely around the world, but comparing headline wage rates alone can obscure how much workers can actually buy with them.
This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, compares monthly minimum wages using 2024 data from the International Labour Organization. Figures are expressed in purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted U.S. dollars, making wages more comparable based on what they can buy locally.
Where no single national minimum exists, ILOSTAT uses other applicable wage floors to make comparisons across countries.
The Countries With the Highest Minimum WagesSwitzerland tops the dataset at $3,804 per month, based on a regional rather than nationwide minimum wage. Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands follow at roughly $2,900. Eight of the top 10 countries are in Europe, while Australia and New Zealand are the only two outside the region.
South Korea stands out at $2,362, the highest figure in Asia. The U.S. sits much lower at $1,257 per month, ranking 25th overall. The ILO uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour rather than the $10.69 average state minimum in 2024.
RankCountryMonthly Minimum Wage, PPP-Adjusted 1🇨🇭 Switzerland$3,804 2🇩🇪 Germany$2,928 3🇬🇧 UK$2,902 4🇳🇱 Netherlands$2,876 5🇦🇺 Australia$2,819 6🇧🇪 Belgium$2,752 7🇮🇸 Iceland$2,730 8🇳🇿 New Zealand$2,673 9🇫🇷 France$2,465 10🇮🇪 Ireland$2,433 11🇰🇷 South Korea$2,362 12🇸🇲 San Marino$2,339 13🇨🇦 Canada$2,324 14🇪🇸 Spain$2,248 15🇵🇱 Poland$2,141 16🇯🇵 Japan$1,839 17🇷🇴 Romania$1,799 18🇴🇲 Oman$1,757 19🇬🇷 Greece$1,735 20🇵🇹 Portugal$1,713 21🇮🇱 Israel$1,630 22🇧🇭 Bahrain$1,590 23🇭🇺 Hungary$1,409 24🇨🇿 Czechia$1,319 25🇺🇸 U.S.$1,257 26🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR$1,186 27🇨🇷 Costa Rica$1,093 28🇧🇴 Bolivia$1,078 29🇨🇱 Chile$1,076 30🇲🇾 Malaysia$1,035 31🇧🇸 Bahamas$1,017 32🇫🇯 Fiji$1,010 33🇩🇲 Dominica$1,000 34🇮🇩 Indonesia$993 35🇵🇾 Paraguay$986 36🇬🇹 Guatemala$963 37🇵🇦 Panama$943 38🇧🇿 Belize$940 39🇭🇳 Honduras$929 40🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago$909 41🇵🇼 Palau$889 42🇪🇬 Egypt$863 43🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina$850 44🇨🇴 Colombia$843 45🇩🇴 Dominican Republic$826 46🇹🇭 Thailand$822 47🇯🇴 Jordan$809 48🇲🇦 Morocco$773 49🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines$766 50🇸🇨 Seychelles$766 51🇧🇾 Belarus$766 52🇸🇻 El Salvador$760 53🇲🇺 Mauritius$753 54🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis$740 55🇬🇩 Grenada$705 56🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda$702 57🇻🇳 Viet Nam$693 58🇯🇲 Jamaica$670 59🇷🇺 Russia$662 60🇦🇿 Azerbaijan$654 61🇮🇶 Iraq$626 62🇿🇦 South Africa$620 63🇬🇾 Guyana$619 64🇲🇽 Mexico$599 65🇧🇧 Barbados$592 66🇲🇳 Mongolia$591 67🇲🇻 Maldives$587 68🇵🇰 Pakistan$570 69🇦🇷 Argentina$568 70🇳🇮 Nicaragua$565 71🇧🇷 Brazil$559 72🇱🇾 Libya$553 73🇨🇳 China$544 74🇬🇦 Gabon$529 75🇵🇪 Peru$526 76🇨🇬 Congo$517 77🇹🇳 Tunisia$513 78🇳🇵 Nepal$490 79🇰🇿 Kazakhstan$483 80🇦🇲 Armenia$476 81🇩🇿 Algeria$473 82🇮🇷 Iran$466 83🇻🇺 Vanuatu$458 84🇼🇸 Samoa$440 85🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea$425 86🇰🇼 Kuwait$408 87🇵🇭 Philippines$400 88🇦🇫 Afghanistan$393 89🇧🇩 Bangladesh$379 90🇲🇿 Mozambique$379 91🇶🇦 Qatar$363 92🇰🇪 Kenya$361 93🇧🇼 Botswana$354 94🇱🇧 Lebanon$344 95🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire$320 96🇺🇿 Uzbekistan$311 97🇱🇸 Lesotho$306 98🇰🇮 Kiribati$289 99🇱🇦 Laos$286 100🇸🇷 Suriname$283 101🇨🇻 Cape Verde$282 102🇸🇳 Senegal$280 103🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea$268 104🇧🇯 Benin$261 105🇹🇱 Timor-Leste$252 106🇹🇩 Chad$252 107🇹🇯 Tajikistan$252 108🇳🇬 Nigeria$245 109🇲🇷 Mauritania$244 110🇹🇬 Togo$235 111🇮🇳 India$233 112🇹🇿 Tanzania$228 113🇧🇫 Burkina Faso$226 114🇦🇴 Angola$225 115🇸🇧 Solomon Islands$219 116🇰🇲 Comoros$218 117🇨🇲 Cameroon$212 118🇲🇬 Madagascar$210 119🇲🇱 Mali$208 120🇱🇰 Sri Lanka$200 121🇳🇪 Niger$196 122🇧🇹 Bhutan$180 123🇭🇹 Haiti$167 124🇬🇳 Guinea$153 125🇨🇫 Central African Republic$133 126🇸🇱 Sierra Leone$121 127🇬🇭 Ghana$100 128🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan$91 129🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau$83 130🇬🇲 Gambia$67After adjusting for purchasing power, the U.S. federal minimum wage is less than half Germany’s, despite the U.S. having one of the highest average incomes in the world.
Minimum-wage systems aren’t identical across countries. The U.S. figure uses the federal minimum, while Canada’s figure represents the median of provincial rates. As a result, the figures should be read as standardized country comparisons rather than the wage floor faced by every worker.
Countries where wage floors are set primarily through collective bargaining, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Austria, and Italy, are shown as having no comparable data.
Why the U.S. Minimum Wage Ranks 25thOne reason for America’s position is that the federal minimum wage hasn’t increased in 17 years. It has remained at $7.25 an hour since July 2009, the longest stretch without an increase since the federal minimum wage was established.
Inflation has steadily eroded what that $7.25 paycheck can buy. To match the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage when it took effect in 2009, workers would need to earn $11.47 an hour today. In other words, its purchasing power has fallen by roughly 37% since 2009.
Many Americans earn above the federal wage floor. Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have minimum wages above $7.25, while some cities set even higher rates. Still, the long federal freeze helps explain why the U.S. sits significantly below many other high-income economies.
How Cost of Living Reshuffles the RankingAdjusting for local prices produces some surprising comparisons. Poland ranks 15th globally at $2,141 per month, close to Spain at $2,248 and ahead of Japan at $1,839.
In Latin America, Costa Rica leads at $1,093, just $164 below the U.S. federal minimum on a purchasing-power basis. Last year, Costa Rica raised private-sector minimum wages using a formula that considers both the cost of living and productivity growth.
These figures offer a better sense of what minimum wages can buy locally, but they don’t account for taxes or benefits. Because the adjustments are national, they can also mask large differences in housing costs between cities and regions.
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic comparing minimum wages across countries and U.S. states, adjusted for living costs.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 04:15Portuguese President António José Seguro has officially signed into law a bill banning face-concealing attire in public spaces, with the move seen targeting the full-face Islamic veils like the burqa and niqab.
Addressing the national debate, President Seguro framed the decision around human interaction, stating:
"The face should be considered a central element of human identity and communication."
However, the former Socialist Party leader acknowledged the controversial nature of the ban, recognizing it as a matter of significant cultural and social sensitivity.
The law was largely backed by the country's right-wing politicians and labeled the "burqa law" by Portuguese media.
It passed parliament in July with the votes of right-wing parties, with the left firmly in opposition.
The new legal framework strictly limits garments designed to hide one's identity in public spaces.
It also penalizes forcing individuals to cover their faces based on gender, religion, or age.
Violators face financial penalties ranging from €150 to €3,000.
There are, however, some exceptions.
Wearing items that cover the face, such as medical masks, professional/artistic gear, and extreme weather wear, are all examples of exceptions under the law.
Tyler Durden Thu, 08/27/2026 - 03:30