Youth Unemployment Vs Poor Education Sytem

Youth Unemployment as a result of poor Education Systems in Uganda

The term unemployment is not new to many Ugandans where youth unemployment was 23% by the year 2002 and estimated to be at a whopping 32.2% at the present and the extent of the problem has long been recognized as a serious gap in the country’s efforts to reduce poverty and idleness among the young people. The Ugandan labor force consists of persons aged 14 to 64 who are either employed (in paid employment, self-employed and unpaid family workers) or unemployed (without work and available for work). Currently the Uganda labour force is estimated to be 9.8 million for person aged 14-64 years, of which 53 per cent are female. About 85 per cent of the labor is in rural areas, a notable percentage of the labour force is illiterate (30 percent). Close to 77 per cent of the labour force has either no education or has attained primary education. In addition, about 75 per cent of the labour force is below 40 years. This indicates that majority of the individuals entering labour market have no adequate skills considering that the majority youth do not appreciate vocational working skill training.

The 2009/2010 Uganda National Household Survey revealed that the unemployment rate was at 4.2 percent in 2009/2010 compared to 1.9 percent in 2005/2006. The survey also showed that the general proportion of youth (International definition, 15-24 years) rose from 27 percent in 2005/2006 to 28% in 2009/2010. On the other hand, the proportion of the youth (national definition, 18-30 years) rose from 44 percent in 2005/2006 to 48 percent in 2009/2010. According to a 2008 World Bank Report, Uganda is among the countries with the youngest population and the highest youth unemployment rate of 83%.

The National Youth policy recognizes that the major causes of a high youth unemployment rate are lack of employable skills, access to reproductive resources like land and capital, overemphasis on experience, lack of apprenticeship schemes, negative attitudes by the youth towards work especially in agriculture and lack of a comprehensive employment policy to mention but a few. There is also a possibility that a large share of current high youth unemployment is “structural,” meaning that the problem is that those who are unemployed are not compatible with the jobs available. This would be, for instance, because their skills are inadequate, have deteriorated, or are not applicable to the industries, or that the unemployed simply do not live in the places where the jobs are suggesting a possible skill mismatch. The low quality of education leads to a general lack of skills causing increased youth unemployment in Uganda.  Free education programmes are often limited to primary and secondary educations which have been seen to be lacking in quality. High dropout rates worsen the situation further.

Further, under the policy, the salient issues experienced by the youth in the area of education and training include selectiveness of education and training institutions in favor of urban areas, lack of equity and accessibility to education and training facilities, lack of vocationalisation of education at all levels, inadequate education and training facilities and shortage of personnel with quality practical skills training. One of the principles underlying the National Youth policy is the promotion of the principle of equity in opportunities and in distribution of programmes, services and resources.

Section 6 (1) of the Employment Act provides that it shall be the duty of all parties including the Minister, labour officers and the industrial court to seek to promote equality of opportunity  with a view to eliminating any discrimination in employment. In relating this provision to employment and the youth in Uganda, the law presupposes that the youth are entitled to access employment opportunities in the same manner as senior citizens in the country.

In the next 50 years, there is need to have Job centres to coordinate demand and supply on the labour market: private sector enterprises can advertise vacancies, saving job-seekers time and money from going to the enterprises to ask for a job. To successfully establish job centres it is important to go beyond mere administration of vacancies. It should be noted that Only 50 per cent of African Poverty Reduction Strategies address youth Issue therefore close contact must be maintained with the private sector to continuously assess skills demands. The job centre also needs to advise young people on marketable skills. And it needs to stay in close contact with training institutions. Further, formal education is critical in determining the quality of labour market entrants therefore, improving access to education is imperative, especially because less-educated people have access to fewer jobs. Unemployment is partly the result of a mismatch between inadequate educational outcomes and skills demand. The education system must provide the skills profiles required by the labour market to enhance the employability of young people.

Universities and secondary schools should introduce a career guidance component in the programmes offered and Universities should establish Graduate Development Programmes that enhance the employability of their graduates by providing them with job preparation information, for example, work related life skills, computer literacy, Curriculum vitae preparation and interview readiness. The youth need to adopt courses at tertiary institutions which encourage creativity and develop curricula that are responsive to emerging global demands and trends.  All these steps would ensure that all students make informed decisions and prepare them for the existing job market.

The employment challenge confronting Uganda is significant, with a whopping 32.2% youth unemployment rate. What is required is a comprehensive short-term and long-term reform agenda that will ensure the education system is adequate to avoid mismatch of skills in the labour market.