World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) takes place every year on July 15th. This is a day to inspire young people and a day to develop passion for learning skills and pursuing excellence. 

Education and skills are key to success for tomorrow's workforce - and in particular girls. For WYSD, Where Women Work is encouraging prime employers for women to support and promote youth training. 

Young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously face the challenges of greater labour market inequalities. The aim of WYSD - facilitated by UNESCO-UNEVOC - is to advocate for skills as an important factor to improve young people’s transitions to decent work, and to highlight the crucial role of skilled youth in addressing today’s most challenging global issues.

"On this day, we honor all young people and celebrate their achievements. This year, our theme is Learning to Learn for Work and Life," says Head of UNESCO-UNEVOC, Shyamal Majumdar. "Training people in a wide range of skills prepares them for the jobs of today and the occupations of tomorrow."

Get involved and make a difference this World Youth Skills Day

For WYSD, the importance of technical and vocational training for young people can be marked by employers. It is a great time to celebrate providing youth with the opportunities to develop their competencies and accelerate their transition to work. 

Companies are encouraged to host events and take part in a competition and story series to mark the WYSD occasion.

Raising awareness of an important issue and inspiring a future generation

Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population. The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving inclusive and stable societies - this includes tackling the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict and migration.

However, young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and are exposed to lower quality of jobs, greater labor market inequalities, and more insecure school-to-work transitions. In addition, women are more likely to be underemployed and under-paid, and to undertake part-time jobs or work under temporary contracts.

WYSD is a great opportunity to make a difference and to shed light on the systems needed to accelerate lifelong learning.

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