World Youth Skills Day focuses on preparing youth for labour market

AMMAN — On World Youth Skills Day, young Jordanians cast light on the skills needed to face today’s challenges. 

Observed annually on July 15, World Youth Skills Day celebrates the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship, according to the UN.

This year, World Youth Skills Day takes place amid concerted efforts towards socio-economic recovery, following the pandemic, that are interconnected with challenges, such as climate change, conflict, poverty, inequality, rapid technological change and demographic transition, the UN added.

Celina Varouqa, a young Jordanian computer scientist and technology expert, said that digital literacy is of “utmost importance” to address evolving challenges and to succeed in today’s workforce.

“I believe our generation is the most educated generation ever. However, things are only getting harder, which obliges us to work together in order to find concrete and real solutions,” Varouqa told The Jordan Times.

Marwa Attoun, a recent marketing graduate, told The Jordan Times that matching the educational curriculum with the labour market’s needs “has always been an important step” towards preparing youth for the future. 

She added that labour market realities are “complex and hard to predict”. 

“Focus must be placed on developing youth’s flexibility, punctuality and entrepreneurial skills,” Attoun said. 

She also noted that one of the biggest problems in the Kingdom is that the number of graduates outpaces employment growth. Equipping youth with entrepreneurship skills might help address unemployment, she suggested.

According to UNICEF, Jordan has one of the youngest populations in the world, with 63 per cent of its population under the age of 30.