Welcome to the United Nations
Decent jobs for Youth is the global initiative to scale up action and impact on youth employment in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Recently, United Nations system launched a new platform “Decent Jobs for Youth” for youth employment. The platform is a hub for catalyzing partnerships, collaboration and coordinated action grounded in evidence-based strategies. Its vision is a world in which young women and men everywhere have greater access to decent jobs.
Today, on Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises International Day, we celebrate youth’s leadership in creating businesses and jobs all over the world.
Young women and men are shaping our present and future, transforming societies and accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Youth’s creativity, innovation and drive are translating business ideas into solutions for inclusive and economic growth, but their achievements hinge on the opportunities available for young women and men to engage in decent work across the globe.
70 million youth are without a job globally and what-is-more, over 150 million youth work, yet live in moderate or extreme poverty. This challenge can only be met with a strong and resolute response.
It is estimated that nearly 6.4 million youth worldwide moved into inactivity in response to the crisis while many other continue to work yet live in poverty.
Of the nearly 200 million unemployed people today, about 37% - more than 70 million – are between the ages of 15 and 24.
2 out of every 5 young persons of working age are either unemployed or working jobs that don’t pay enough to escape poverty.
These challenges are not trivial since the “demographic dividend” can become a source of instability if young people around the world continue to face disappointing prospects in their job search. Unemployment and underemployment depreciate human capital and have significant negative effects on health, happiness, crime levels and socio-political stability. Failure to generate sufficient decent jobs for youth and to address their vulnerabilities in the labour market can result in long-lasting “scarring” effects throughout an individual’s life.
In response to the challenges, the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth will serve as a unique platform to join forces – within and beyond the UN system – to tackle the challenge and assist Member States in delivering on a crucial goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Join us to advocate for more and better jobs for youth and the opportunities that result from youth-led entrepreneurship by learning global actions or becoming a partner here.
More information about the #DecentJobsforYouth click here.
Source: ILO