World Youth Skills Day 2024

The aim of World Youth Skills Day is to encourage youth to celebrate the value of acquiring skills like building, making, and creating as a way to achieve personal success and fulfillment.

Through empowering young people, they can better advance the broader mission of the United Nations (UN) for lasting peace, sustainable development and human rights for all, according to UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

A UN resolution to establish a World Youth Skills Day was adopted by the General Assembly on December 18, 2014.

Training Is Key

On the UN's website, they state that education and training are the keys to success in the workforce. However, unfortunately, existing systems are failing to address the learning needs of many young people. A large number of youths have low levels of achievement in basic literacy and numeracy, according to surveys. Skills and jobs for youth feature prominently in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

13.1% Youth Unemployment

Both the resolution and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) quotes an International Labour Organization (ILO) publication which states that 73.4 million young people were estimated to be unemployed in 2015, which equated to a 13.1% youth unemployment rate. The figure was expected to increase in most regions by 2017.

UNESCO states that one reason for youth unemployment, which affects all regions around the world, is a mismatch between the skills workers can offer and the skills which are in demand. This is known as structural unemployment.

On World Youth Skills Day on July 15, 2017, the United Nations (UN) will host a special event, themed “Skills Development to Improve Youth Employment.” During the event, the organization will launch “the World Youth Report on Youth Civic Engagement,” prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and which explores young people's participation in economic, political, and community life.

While we diligently research and update our holiday dates, some of the information in the table above may be preliminary. If you find an error, please let us know.