Sustainable Design Jobs and SDG 8.6: Closing the Youth Gap

Sustainable design jobs are one practical answer to SDG target 8.6, which asks countries to cut the share of young people who are not in employment, education or training, known as NEET. The International Labour Organization counted 20.4 percent of young people worldwide, about 256 million, as NEET in 2023, and the United Nations’ 2025 Sustainable Development Goals Report lists SDG 8 among the goals where progress has stalled.

International Youth Day on 12 August 2025 used the theme “Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond” and marked 30 years of the World Programme of Action for Youth. For design, that raises a concrete question: how do studios, schools and awards open real first jobs to young people?

Key takeaways

• Target 8.6 measures the NEET rate, which the ILO put at 20.4 percent of people aged 15 to 24 in 2023.
• Two in three young people who are NEET are young women, according to the ILO’s Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024.
• The UN’s SDG Report 2025 found that only 35 percent of all targets are on track or progressing moderately, and that 50 to 57 percent of assessed targets under SDG 8 and four other goals have stalled or reversed.
• Sustainable design jobs depend on visible work, mentors and paid first projects, all of which schools and studios can build in.

What does SDG target 8.6 measure?

Target 8.6 is one of the ten targets under SDG 8, decent work and economic growth. Its original deadline was 2020: to “substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training”. The indicator counts people aged 15 to 24 who are neither working nor studying nor in a training programme, as a share of that age group.

NEET is not the same as unemployment. A young person who has stopped looking for work, or who is caring for a family member, counts as NEET but not as unemployed. That is why the ILO could report youth unemployment at a 15-year low while the NEET share stayed above one in five.

Where do sustainable design jobs fit into SDG 8?

A sustainable design job is a role in which design decisions are judged by environmental and social results as well as by looks and cost. Examples include product designers who run life-cycle assessments, architects who specify low-carbon materials, packaging designers who work with reuse systems and service designers who reduce waste. Target 8.4 of the same goal asks countries to improve resource efficiency in consumption and production and to decouple economic growth from environmental damage, so these jobs serve two parts of SDG 8 at once.

The skills are teachable. Material selection, repairability, accessibility and basic carbon accounting can be learned in a studio or a short course, which makes the field a realistic first step for graduates and career changers.

What did the 2025 data show?

The ILO’s 2024 youth report found sharp regional differences. In sub-Saharan Africa the NEET rate was 21.9 percent, while Europe and Central Asia recorded a rate well below the global figure. Women face the widest gap. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025, published on 14 July 2025, added a wider warning: only 35 percent of targets are on track or moving moderately, nearly half are moving too slowly and 18 percent are in reverse.

Zero hunger, quality education, clean water and sanitation, decent work, and reduced inequalities all had 50 to 57 percent of their measurable targets stalled or going backwards. Weak education pipelines feed the SDG 4 gap, and a shortage of first jobs feeds inequality.

How is progress on SDG 8.6 measured?

The official indicator, 8.6.1, is the proportion of youth aged 15 to 24 not in education, employment or training. National labour force surveys supply the data, and the ILO publishes modelled global and regional estimates. A studio can borrow the logic: count how many entry-level people it hired, how many were paid, and how many were still working a year later.

What can schools, studios and awards do?

Make first work visible

Design hiring runs on portfolios. A young designer without a first credited project is invisible, whatever their talent. Juried showcases and published winner lists give early-career designers something verifiable to show. Recognised work from earlier years can be seen in the winner collection on this site.

Pay for entry-level work

Unpaid internships push out young people who cannot afford to work for free. Studios that pay for short, scoped projects widen the pool and give graduates real client experience.

Teach sustainability as a skill

A brief tied to a specific goal is a good way to practise. Designers can see how a brief connects to other goals in the web of goals.

Which skills do sustainable design jobs ask for?

There is no single qualification, but the same handful of skills appears across architecture, product, packaging, communication and service design. Building them early is the most direct way for a young designer to become employable in this field.

• Material and process knowledge, including how common materials are made, used and recovered
• Life-cycle thinking, from simple comparisons to formal life-cycle assessment
• Design for repair, reuse and disassembly
• Accessibility and inclusive design, since inclusion is part of SDG 10
• Clear communication of evidence, so that claims can be checked by a client or a regulator

These skills can be shown through a small number of well-documented projects. A short case study that states the problem, the options considered, the measured result and what failed is more convincing to an employer than a polished image alone, and it gives a young designer something concrete to talk about in an interview.

Employers can help by writing job descriptions in plain terms, naming the skills that can be learned on the job, and offering a mentor in the first six months. Those steps cost little and widen the pool of people who apply.

Frequently asked questions

What does NEET stand for?

NEET stands for “not in employment, education or training”. It describes young people aged 15 to 24 who are not working, not enrolled in school and not in a training programme. It is the official indicator for SDG target 8.6.

What are sustainable design jobs?

Sustainable design jobs are roles in architecture, product, packaging, communication and service design where decisions are judged by environmental and social outcomes. They usually involve skills such as material choice, life-cycle thinking, repairability and accessibility.

Is the global NEET rate improving?

Slowly. The ILO’s 2024 report showed a recovery after the pandemic, but 20.4 percent of young people were still NEET in 2023, and the gap between young women and young men remains wide.