According to the International Labour Organization, we are facing the biggest unemployment crisis in a generation. Before the Arab Spring, 22% of young Libyans were jobless. In Egypt, the figure rose to 27% and in Tunisia, 31% of young people were out of a job.
The problem is all the more acute because two in three people in the region are under the age of 30. They all need to find work but the economies do not have the jobs for them.
But the fighting this year has given young people a role. Many young people are reluctant to give up their weapons and now there is growing frustration by the public over the number of guns people are carrying and heavy weaponry still on the streets of cities like Tripoli.
But many people believe little can be achieved until an elected government is in place. In the absence of any new policies, Libya's youth are trying to make changes.
Abdulrahman Alageli is 24. Brought up in Manchester, his parents are from Libya and he returned to the country to fight in the revolution.
He runs the Libyan Youth Forum, which helps young fighters readjust to civilian life. One of the projects he is working on is an online job centre to match job opportunities to job hunters.
Back to normality
But the private sector has a long way to go before it can provide enough jobs for all the Libyans who want one. Libya's economy is heavily-dependent on oil. With the largest oil reserves in Africa, it produced 1.6 million barrels of oil a day before the war and accounted for 95% of the country's export earnings.
Economic sanctions against the country kept Libya isolated from foreign investment for years. When sanctions were lifted in 2003 and 2004, investment started to flood into the country but nevertheless, Libya still has a very undiversified economy.
The wealth is in the country's oil and Libya's people may not see that for a good while yet.
"It's going to be difficult. I'm sorry to be pessimistic but lots of young people think that here is the revolution, it's done, now we're going to be rich, we're going to be prosperous," says Ali Tekbali, a Professor at the University of Tripoli and an activist.
"It's going to take some time. It's going to be lots of spending on the infrastructure, on education, on health and we're not going to see it on the pockets of the people soon."
For now though, the mood among young people is mostly optimistic. They wielded the power to overthrow a regime that stifled their opportunities.
But the challenge for the new leaders will be to meet the expectations of their young population and convince them to lay down their weapons and go back to work.
(Source: BBC)
