Reaching YES! Addressing the youth employment and skilling challenge
Generation Unlimited, PwC and UNICEF urge governments and businesses to address global skills gap and decrease youth unemployment
Highlights
Today, the world has 1.3bn young people who are trying to start out, find their way and make a life—just as we did once. But the harsh reality is that millions of these young people will find it hard to make a life for themselves because they will struggle to find work. While the youth population has exploded by 30% in the last 20 years or so, the number in the labour force has actually decreased by approximately 12%.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even tougher for young people to find a job. When a young person wants to work but lacks the opportunity to do so, that is a tragedy both for the individual and for society. And one of the reasons that youth in every region struggle to find work is a mismatch between the skills they can offer and the skills employers need.
That’s why UNICEF and PwC have partnered with Generation Unlimited to develop a practical road map to help our youth understand what skills employers want, acquire those skills and get the certifications to prove it; we call this ‘reaching YES’ (youth employment and skilling).
This is a big undertaking, but we believe it can be achieved through partnerships among government, business, multilateral organisations and young people themselves. Helping youth acquire the skills they need to succeed is not just an economic or business imperative; it is a social imperative too. We hope this report will inspire you to join us in helping every young person realise their potential.
