It is estimated that young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults hence, the reason they end up doing part-time jobs or contract basis work. Taking this as serious issue, the United Nations, at its General Assembly in November 2014, declared 15 July as World Youth Skills Day. The day was observed under the theme Youth skills for work and life in the post-2015 agenda. The theme is in line with the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

It’s essential to improve socio-economic conditions of the youth, to ward off the root cause of unemployment and under employment. Also, the reason for youth unemployment is structural unemployment, a mismatch between the skills that workers in the economy can offer and the skills demanded of workers by employers.

In 2019, UNESCO and the UNEVOC network will join the global celebrations to mark the day and also to raise awareness about the importance of youth skills development.

This year, the theme for World Youth Skills Day 2019 is ‘Learning to learn for life and work’. Also, TikTok and National Skill Development Corporation have collaborated to celebrate the day this year by launching an in-app campaign ‘Skills4All’.