Unemployment rates for youth are three times higher than for adults in all world regions, and a vast majority of unemployed youth are young women. Among people who do have jobs, youth have a higher incidence of working poverty and vulnerable employment than adults. Youth also face serious barriers in accessing land, credit and other productive assets for establishing their own livelihoods, and many young people lack the right to representation in workers’ unions or producers’ organizations. At the same time, today’s young people are on the front lines of the transformation of agriculture and food systems. They are coping with the effects of environmental and climate change, which are likely to accelerate and intensify during their lifetimes. These problems have been exacerbated by the social and economic impacts of COVID-19, which has put lives, jobs and livelihoods at risk and is having serious effects on both food supplies and demand worldwide.