Youth unemployment and its negative health effects
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/generation/image/upload/w_350,q_auto,f_auto/hongkong-en/2019/06/news-mona-HBR-health.jpg)
Mona Mourshed, Generation’s global executive director, joins research partner Gallup in discussing the devastating effects that youth unemployment can have on young people’s health.
We know a lot about the devastating health effects of unemployment. But new analysis reveals just how bad it can be for unemployed youth in high-income countries.
Our Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index found that among 47 high-income countries (as defined by the World Bank), the physical well-being of unemployed young adults between the ages of 15 to 29 is statistically tied with employed people aged 50 and older — 26% vs. 24% thriving, respectively. And in the U.S., where we were able to analyze a sufficient sample size, unemployed youth have a worse physical well-being compared with employed older adults — 23% vs. 31% thriving. (Gallup and Healthways define “thriving” physical well-being as consistently having good health and enough energy to get things done each day.)