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World Youth Skills Day 2021

World Youth Skills Day, which falls on 15 July, is organized by the United Nations to draw attention to the opportunities and challenges facing young people’s employment. The Day is important because rising youth unemployment is seen as one of the most significant problems facing economies and societies in today’s world, for developed and developing countries alike.

Some 73 million young people are currently unemployed, with 40 million joining the labor market each year. To tackle the problem, at least 475 million new jobs need to be created over the next decade.

One of the main focus areas for World Youth Skills Day is to highlight the importance of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a way of helping meet UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 – “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day, to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. Since then, World Youth Skills Day events have provided a unique opportunity for dialogue between young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, firms, employers’ and workers’ organizations, policymakers and development partners.

World Youth Skills Day 2021 will take place in a challenging context, with the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the widespread disruption of the TVET sector. While vaccination offers some hope, TVET still has a long road to recovery, especially in those countries which continue to be overwhelmed by the spread of the disease. Youth skills development will face a range of unfamiliar problems emerging from a crisis where training has been disrupted in an unprecedented manner on a virtually universal scale.

Young people aged 15-24 are particularly exposed to the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. School and workplace closures are leading to learning and training losses. Major life-cycle transitions are made difficult if not impossible, including graduation from general education or TVET at secondary or tertiary level, residential autonomy, and labor market insertion.

TVET has a key role to play in fostering the resilience of young people. It is crucial for all stakeholders to ensure the continuity of skills development and to introduce training programs to bridge skills gaps. Solutions need to be reimagined in a way that considers not only the realities of the present, but also the full range of possibilities for the future.

Why is World Youth Skills Day important?

Rising youth unemployment is one of the most significant problems facing economies and societies in today’s world, for developed and developing countries alike. The latest Global Employment Trends for Youth 2020: Technology and the future of jobs shows that since 2017, there has been an upward trend in the number of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET).

In 2016 there were 259 million young people classified as NEET – a number that rose to an estimated 267 million in 2019, and is projected to continue climbing to around 273 million in 2021. In terms of percentage, the trend was also slightly up from 21.7% in 2015 to 22.4% in 2020 – implying that the international target to reduce the NEET rate by 2020 will be missed.

Designated by the General assembly in 2014, the World Youth Skills Day is an opportunity for young people, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, and public and private sector stakeholders to acknowledge and celebrate the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

World Youth Skills Day 2021

This year World Youth Skills Day 2021 will celebrate the resilience and creativity of youth throughout the crisis. A virtual event, organized by the Permanent Missions of Sri Lanka and Portugal to the UN, the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, UNESCO, and ILO, will offer an opportunity to reflect on skills that are needed today and for the future. Participants will take stock of how the TVET sector has adapted to the pandemic and recession, think of how TVET institutions can participate in the recovery, and imagine priorities they should adopt for the post-COVID-19 world.

Objectives of the event

The World Youth Skills Day 2021 will celebrate the resilience and creativity of youth throughout the crisis. Participants will take stock of how TVET systems have adapted to the pandemic and recession, consider how those systems can participate in the recovery, and imagine priorities they should adopt for a post-COVID-19 world. A first interactive panel will discuss skills that are needed today and will be needed in the future, and a second panel will reflect on TVET stakeholder partnerships for scaling up youth skills development.

The objectives of the World Youth Skills Day 2021 are therefore to:

  • Assess the situation of young people regarding skills and work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; learn how they have been living through the crisis; highlight success stories of youth innovation and resilience;
  • Debate on prospects for skills development and the world of work as economies recover, and on the effectiveness of national recovery plans and support from development partners; and,
  • Reflect on how TVET stakeholders can collaborate to scale up skills development and help reconcile the short-term need for economic recovery with the urgent need for accelerating the transition to sustainable development.
  • Additionally, the Global framework on core skills for life and work in the 21st century will be launched. This new global framework reflects the ongoing transformations and the emerging opportunities in the world of work. This publication contributes to ILO’s efforts in promoting personal and professional development for all, through lifelong learning.

World Youth Skills Day

Register for the event 

Tell your story

The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a scale that could hardly have been anticipated one year ago. As young people continue to showcase their resilience during this crisis, UNESCO-UNEVOC is calling on TVET youth to share videos of which skills they think will be most important in the post-pandemic era. These stories will be featured in a global campaign to mark World Youth Skills Day on 15 July.

Tips on how to share your testimony with UNESCO-UNEVOC

Remember to say your name, age, profile (e.g. student, TVET apprentice, newly graduated), institution and country.

Questions for young people (ages 15-24):

  • What skills/work do you wish to acquire for the future?
  • What skills do you think will be most important in the post-pandemic era and why?
  • What is your message to decision-makers in your country to support youth employment, skills development, and entrepreneurship?

Tips for recording your video (60 seconds maximum)

  1. Record in a well-lit place.
  2. Test the sound. Film for a few seconds and listen to the video to make sure the sound is good. Make sure there are no noises around you or other people speaking at the same time.
  3. The video will be cut to a square (1:1) format. Whether you film horizontally or vertically, make sure that the person speaking is always in the center of the frame.

Share your video

Share your video on your social media account with the hashtags #WYSD2021. Be sure to tag on FacebookTwitter and Instagram when you post your video. Your consent is needed to use your video on a website and YouTube channel. Please fill in and sign the consent form  and send it to unevoc.skills(at)unesco.org.

*Deadline for submissions: 8 July 2021 


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