Skills mismatch keeping youth out of jobs, new report shows

Youth employed under National Governments Kazi Mtaani initiative clearing bushes and unclogging drainage systems at Lake view area in the outskirts of Nakuru town on April 30, 2020. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Youth aged between 15 and 34 years form the highest percentage of persons who are not in employment, education or training.

A government report shows that skills mismatch has kept these youth out of jobs.

It proposes proactive actions that include anticipating future skills and also highlighting crucial sectors for future jobs.

Post-Training and Skills Development PS Alfred Cheruiyot said Kenya is battling unemployment and labour underutilisation among youths.

Citing contents of the Kenya Youth Policy Development Report, Cheruiyot said the current unemployment rate stands at 10.4 per cent while the labour underutilisation rate is at 17.2 percent.

“The highest proportion of the unemployed was recorded among the age cohort of 20-24 years and 25-29 years, registering 22.8 per cent and 21.7 per cent respectively,’’ said Cheruiyot.

However, the PS said that the highest rate of labour underutilisation falls in the age group 20-24 at 32.7 per cent.

“Youth aged between 15-34 years recorded the highest percentage of persons who are not in employment, education or training at 18.2 per cent,” said Cheruiyot.

Decent work

The details emerged during a three-day conference held at the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) under the theme ‘Enhancing graduate employability, focused on matching curricular to labour market demands.’

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said the government is determined to ensure youths find decent work upon completion of education and training.

Magoha added elimination of barriers that impede access to employment by graduates are a must.

‘‘Having relevant skills is, therefore, essential for young people to easily access the labour market and retain employment in high quality and stable jobs,’’ said Magoha.

Youth Affairs PS Charles Sunkuli said there is a deliberate need for concerted efforts by the various players and actors to inform the youth about the options available and dynamics in the labour market.

‘‘Providing Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) as well as imparting life and communication skills can help achieve this,’’ said  PS Sunkuli.

In his detailed presentation, Cheruiyot said the skills mismatch is a result of weak linkage between education and industry leading to unemployment, which disproportionately affects the youths, who account for 75 percent of the current population of around 50 million people.

The skills mismatch, according the PS, happens at two levels: micro and macro level.

At micro level, Cheruiyot said this include over skilling or under skilling. Also skills obsolesce and geographical gaps where there are opportunities in an area but the skills supplies are in a different location.

And at macro level, he said the mismatch is the issue is about supply and demand of skills.

Volunteerism

Cheruiyot identified skills mismatch as a key challenge facing the youth leaving post school levels of education and training, adding there is a disconnect between the courses offered in higher education institutions and the needs in the job market.

‘‘Higher education institution still offer courses which may not be relevant to the current job market. Even those that offer courses that are practical to the current dynamics, do not properly guide the youth on the career selection and therefore they end up being unemployed years even after training,’’ he added.

He said part of the solution included enhancement of volunteerism that prepares the youth for the world of work through the review of the National Volunteerism Policy and appropriate curriculum.

The PS said there is need to in build and incorporate soft skills such as communication, respect, public relations and financial literacy into the school and post-school curricular.

He also said there should also be mentorship and coaching programmes at workplaces, where newly recruited staff are placed under experienced officers to understudy them.

“There is also need for a policy document and curriculum on mentorship and coaching in the public and private sector that emphasises on apprenticeship for youth leaving school and post levels of education and training,’’ said the PS.

Experts are now calling for skills anticipation for future jobs.

“This will help in assessing future skills needed in the labour market in a strategic way, using consistent and systematic methods,” said Alice Vozza, a skills and lifelong learning specialist at International Labour Organisation in South Africa.

‘‘The aim is not to provide exact numbers of workers but rather, aims to provide information to all labour market actors on potential future skills needs and imbalances, so that they can make informed decisions or develop measures or take actions,’’ Vozza said.

Mass jobs

Agriculture, industry and services sectors awere cited as playing the greatest role in job creation. This is supported by a recent survey by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) dubbed Industries Without Smokestacks in Africa: A Case of Kenya (2021). The report says that the share of agriculture in total employment generally increased from the 1991 levels (47 per cent) to 60 per cent in 2010 and thereafter 57 per cent in 2018.

Dr Eldah Onsomu, Principal Policy Analyst at KIPPRA, said some recent studies indicate that Industries Without Smokestacks (IWOSS) have the potential to create mass jobs for the youth.

IWOSS refers to a set of non-manufacturing sectors comparable to manufacturing. That is, sectors that are tradable, can generate mass employment, have high value-added per worker and can agglomerate. They also demonstrate high productivity and employment potential like manufacturing.

The meeting also heard that the most promising sectors are tourism, horticulture and ICT, which is a high growth sector in Kenya and globally.

According to Onsomu, employment projections to 2030 suggest that besides IWOSS; manufacturing, and non-IWOSS sectors will be important for creating wage jobs.

‘‘The sectors with the leading share of wage jobs are trade and repairs, horticulture and manufacturing but they need to be supported,” said Onsomu.

Projected skills demand will be in technical, analytical thinking and innovation, active learning and learning strategies, creativity, originality and initiative. Others are critical thinking and analysis, high technology, design and programming, complex problem-solving, leadership and social influence, emotional intelligence, reasoning, problem-solving and ideation, and systems analysis and evaluation.

Labour market data

And there are also skills deficits across counties. Vihiga County (70.4 per cent) has the highest proportion of youth who have stayed the longest as Youth Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) and Mandera the lowest at 3.3 per cent.

Dr Onsomu said there is need to develop appropriate labour market information systems due to lack of access to real-time labour market data. This, he said, will entail undertaking skills inventory to inform areas for skills training and trace studies in order to track TVET graduates in the labour market.

This will give feedback for review and improvement of TVET programmes and improving employability.

‘‘Strengthening the linkages between education and training through collaboration between the training institutions and labour market, private sector needs to be vigorously involved in shaping the future of industry by playing key roles in the planning and design of TVET programmes,” said Onsomu.

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