Employability Factors Contributing to Youth Unemployment in the EAC Countries Data and Policy Analysis

This policy research paper analyses entrepreneurship factors contributing to youth unemployment and also provides working recommendations for engagement on youth employment through entrepreneurship in the EAC Countries. The data and policy analysis are based on the theory of 4Es as propounded by ILO and Youth Employment Network literature. The literature reviews, field research survey, focus group discussion, combined observational and consultations with key informants were research methods used in collecting secondary and primary data. Data analysis used non-parametric methods, mainly frequency and cross tabulations.
 The paper finds that entrepreneurship factors such as inadequate innovative skills; limited entrepreneurship knowledge, education and training skills; communication skills barriers; limited entrepreneurship experience; and existence of informal sector and entrepreneurship barriers contribute highly to youth unemployment in most of the EAC countries.
 The paper recommends for improved entrepreneurship conditions and relevant implementation strategies include need to ensure adequate innovative skills; enhance entrepreneurship knowledge, education and training; informal employment in both formal and informal sectors improved; remove communication skill barriers; instil positive opportunity perception and ensure adequate access of entrepreneurship experience for optimal youth employment.

This policy research paper analyses employability factors contributing to youth unemployment and also provides working recommendations for further dialogue and engagement on youth employability in the EA countries. The data and policy analyses are based on the theory of 4-Es as propounded by International Labour Organization and Youth Employment Network literature. The field research survey, focus group discussion, combined observational and consultations with key informants were major research methods used in collecting secondary and primary data and other information. Data analysis used non-parametric methods, mainly frequency, and cross tabulations.
 The study found that the governments and private sectors have not created adequate, remunerative and sustainable job opportunities to match with increasing labour force within the country through effective utilization of natural resources available and improvement of production technology within the region. Diversification of the economy is limited. The government fiscal policies and other systems have not been effective in reducing unemployment for both youths with ought and with disability.
 The paper recommends optimal employment creation conditions. The proposed implementation strategies include creation of pro-economic growth job opportunities; diversification of the economy; creation of the environment conducive for fiscal policies adjustment; increasing participation of youth with disabilities in the job planning process and strengthening the institutional capacities.

The study examined the mediating role of financial deepening on the relationship between economic growth and poverty levels in East African Community countries. The specific objectives included establishing the effect of economic growth on poverty levels in EAC countries and determining the meditating effect of financial deepening on the relationship between economic growth and poverty levels in EAC countries. The positivism philosophy was adopted throughout the study. The study adopted both comparative and descriptive research designs. The study population was the five countries of EAC countries which included Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania. Annual data for 30 years beginning 1989 to 2018 was gathered for the study purpose. Secondary data, which consisted of annual data, was utilized in the study. The study employed normality, heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity, serial correlation and unit root diagnostic tests. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of excel and STATA version 14. Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) panel data regression model was adopted to ascertain the causal effect link between various variables relating to economic growth, financial deepening, and poverty levels in EAC member countries. The tests of hypotheses were examined at 95% confidence level. The study results revealed that economic growth had a significant effect on poverty levels in East African Community countries. The study also revealed that financial deepening has a significant mediating effect on the link between economic growth and poverty levels in East African Community countries.

The study examined the relationship between economic growth, income distribution and poverty levels in East African Community countries. The specific objectives of the study included establishing the effect of economic growth on poverty levels in EAC countries and examining the moderating effect of income distribution on the relationship between economic growth and poverty levels in EAC countries. The study adopted both comparative and descriptive research designs. The study population was the five countries of EAC countries which included Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania. Annual data for 30 years beginning 1989 to 2018 was gathered for the study purpose. Secondary data, which consisted of annual data, was utilized in the study. The study employed normality, heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity, serial correlation, Optimal lag test, unit root diagnostic tests, cointegration test and cross sectional correlation test. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of excel and STATA version 14. Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) panel data regression models was used for hypotheses testing. The study results revealed that economic growth had a significant effect on poverty levels in East African Community countries. In addition, the study revealed that income distribution has a significant mediating effect on the link between economic growth and poverty levels in East African Community countries.

In Rwanda, over 75 percent of youth are not in education, employment and training (NEET). These are mostly absorbed in the informal sector that provides little or no protection to workers against shocks, and are prone to several socio-economic, technical, and financial constraints. Through desk review of existing policies and studies, key informant interviews (KIIs), and focus group discussions (FGDs), this study reviews and analyzes the existing youth employment policies (YEPs) and interventions with intent to identify the hurdles and outcomes of the actual implementation of these YEPs in Rwanda. Youths aged 18 to 30, policy makers, policy implementers, and implementing partners were the key target respondents. The study finds a multitude of YEPs and interventions to promote youth education and skilling, entrepreneurship, and business development funding; though most of them are more focused on supply than demand-side of the labor market, with limited vulnerable youth inclusivity. Common hurdles encountered during implementation of YEPs include: poor coordination among the vast YEPs causing monitoring challenges both at national and district level, and duplication of services. Difficulty to integrate education and skilling into decent youth employment, matching labor laws with youth welfare, cultural bias limiting young women from participating in some labor market activities, funding gaps, and limited youth engagement during program design. Addressing these challenges requires a well-coordinated stakeholder engagement, and strong collaboration between the public and private sector, as well as civil society organizations.

Productivity, Investment in Human Capital and the Challenge of Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Comparative Developments and Global Responses in the Perspective of School-to-Work Transition

This study investigated the integration challenges of informal contractors in Boshof, Dealesville and Hertzogville in the Tokologo Local Municipality (TLM) of the Free State Province of South Africa. The aim of the study was to understand the integration challenges through a literature study, to identify and explore these challenges, and to propose strategies to assist informal contractors for easy integration into the formal economy. In order to attain the objectives, a qualitative approach was adopted, aided by semi-structured interviews, and Focus Discussion Groups (FDGs) were conducted among informal contractors in the study areas. By means of purposive sampling, the researcher selected 134 informal contractors from the study areas. They participated in the research and were interviewed in two different groups. Integrating informal contractors in the formal economy is key to the survival of rural contractors and for rural economic growth. Successful integration enable informal contractors to access infrastructure in the formal economy, acquire skills, and market their services on a larger scale. As such, they can create job opportunities, reduce rural unemployment, and sustain the informal economy. Integrating the formal and informal economic sectors is beneficial to the South African economy as it allows for the sharing of available resources, namely infrastructure, information, knowledge, and the expertise of individuals. Chapter one provided the overall orientation of this study. Chapter two gave an account of the literature on informal contractors, and an overview of the South African construction industry, as well as the integration challenges. The chapter also explained the formal and informal economy and its significance. Chapter three examined how the study was conducted, taking into account the research design and methods. In Chapter four, a detailed account was provided on the analysis and interpretation of the research outcomes. Chapter five provided recommendations, taking into consideration the research outcomes stated in Chapter four. It came to light that integrating informal contractors in the formal economy faced serious challenges, namely a growing fragile infrastructure, the lack of information and knowledge, difficulties in receiving skilful and specialised training and education, the inability to access marketing information, and a lack of funding and government support. Given these challenges, informal contractors were unable to recruit skilled employees and to sustain the informal construction industry in general. In was recommended that education and training be provided to contractors in the informal economy to enable them to easily access industry information. Considering these challenges, the strategy of traditional apprenticeship programmes was suggested. One of the key features of this strategy is its flexibility and the combination of work and learning in a specialised field. This strategy is self-financing as it allows individuals to train and work to pay for all their expenses. The programme is linked to future employment opportunities.

Unemployment remains high in Nigeria due to disintegration between the formal and informal sectors, among other factors. While the unemployed largely focus on the formal sector in search of jobs, there is inadequate interest in the informal sector. Yet, this sector provides livelihoods for the majority of the population. This paper examines the informal sector as a catalyst for generating employment in Lagos State, Nigeria, using the Social Capital Theory and a descriptive survey research design. Data were collected from 480 apprentices, 40 masters, 20 journeymen, and 120 members of various communities through a structured questionnaire, Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions, respectively. The findings showed that 64.8 percent of the respondents reported parental sponsorship of vocations in the informal sector, 14.2 percent of the respondents were self-sponsored, and the remainders (18.5 percent and 2.5 percent) were reportedly sponsored by their relatives and masters. Awareness of opportunities for self employment in the informal sector was demonstrated by 71 percent of the respondents. However, 66.3 percent of the respondents thought that schooling could be better than vocations in the informal sector. Mothers’ occupation significantly associated with individuals’ choice of vocation in the informal sector (χ2= 33.71; P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the proposed plans for self employment among the respondents in furniture and tailoring workshops (χ2= 1.44; P > 0.05). Planning for self employment was significantly influenced by several factors including gender, age, mothers’ occupation, career plan, and satisfaction within the informal sector (t = 19.247, P < 0.01). The informal sector is vital for survival of youth in Lagos State, Nigeria. This sector should be supported for poverty eradication and entrepreneurial development.

Covid 19 outbreak worldwide has forced the countries to impose numerous restrictive measures, including social distancing complete and partial lockdowns. The economy of many countries came to a halt, including India. Schools and colleges were closed, and online teaching and learning gave limited practical exposure to students. Companies stopped hiring; instead, the offer letters which were rolled out were taken back. Salaries were deducted, and layoffs were announced. Several people lost their jobs. Students got anxious about their future during this environment of chaos and anxiety. Covid 19 significantly impacted the employability skills and employment opportunities. Thus, this study aims to measure the impact of COVID-19 on the employment and employability skills of university students. Data is collected from 163 university students across different disciplines and courses.

MotivationYouth employment has risen to the top of Africa's development agenda. But there is an often‐ignored tension between the current focus of policy and implementation on self‐employment and entrepreneurship, and the ability of employment in the informal economy to meet the commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to “decent work for all”. Formal‐sector employment is more likely to offer decent work, but a policy focus on it can be dismissed as unrealistic, if not elitist.PurposeThis paper aims to review and synthesize evidence about formal‐sector employment in countries in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) and young people's engagement with it, for the purpose of bringing such employment more centrally into policy and interventions to address the continent's youth employment crisis.Approach and methodsThe article reviews evidence provided by selected labour‐market surveys and recent research studies from SSA on formal‐sector employment and informal employment within the formal sector.FindingsFormal‐sector employment is concentrated in urban areas, as are the vast majority of young Africans who have completed secondary school, and it is more likely to provide decent work than other forms of employment. These facts make it a serious mistake to underestimate the role of employment in the formal sector in addressing Africa's youth employment challenge.Policy implicationA long‐term commitment to (a) the creation of new employment opportunities within the formal sector and (b) improving the governance of labour markets should be central to the co‐ordinated response to Africa's youth employment crisis. Building on the existing base of educated young people and formal‐sector employment in urban areas is likely to be the most effective way of creating a “decent work economy”.

Services are the fastest growing sectors in the global economy. Over the past decades East African countries have witnessed even faster growing rates of the share of trade services in their GDPs. The total services export of EAC countries increased from USD 1868 mills in 1995 to USD 5681 mills in 2008 (WDI 2010) which is approximately three times increase compared to 1995. Along with this growth, liberalization of services trade is becoming a critical economic agenda of these economies. EAC countries have also made unilateral liberalizations in a number of services sectors since the mid 1980’s. On top of that EAC countries have also made commitment to liberalize service trade at the multilateral level. Furthermore a significant commitment of their services sectors has been made under the East African Integration Process beginning from first July 2010. This paper argues that although the importance of services as a share of overall GDP, increase with growth on FDI and employment. Its growth can be driven by number of factors, such as final demand factors and basic structural changes in production, linked to development. Weak domestic preparedness before opening up is likely to be associated with unsatisfactory and undesirable outcomes of services trade liberalization. This paper tries to expound issues that are essential on domestic preparedness for service trade liberalization and analyses the associated concerns. The purpose of this paper is not to provide answers but to shed some light on how services Trade liberalization is currently operationalized in the East African countries, in particular, that is, to open up the “black box”, and indicate the operational design elements around which variance is the highest.CITE AS:Bagumhe, E. P. (2012). Preparación doméstica para la liberalización del comercio de servicios. ¿Están los países africanos preparados para una mayor liberalización comercial?. Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies, 1 (2): 28-51

India's education policies, including the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, aim to empower human resources and reduce social disparities by improving access and relevance in education. Vocational education, despite its significant potential in producing skilled labor, often remains disconnected from mainstream academic education, receiving inadequate attention and integration. As a result, graduates often lack sufficient employability and entrepreneurial skills, limiting their opportunities in the job market and in starting their own businesses. This study analyzes national education policies from 1968, 1986, 1992, up to NEP 2020, and includes a case study of the Skill Enhancement Courses at the University of Delhi. Policy analysis methods were used to evaluate policy changes, while the case study aimed to assess the practical impact of these policies. The findings show that NEP 2020 has successfully promoted the integration of vocational education with academic education, and the Skill Enhancement Courses at the University of Delhi have been effective in improving students' employability skills. The novelty of this research lies in NEP 2020's priority to integrate vocational education into the mainstream curriculum, demonstrated to be effective through its implementation at the University of Delhi. This study recommends strengthening the synergy between vocational and academic education to address the skills gap among graduates, particularly in the context of social sciences and humanities development.

Despite the great potential of agribusiness that can lead to job creation employment and economic prosperity, the majority of the youths seem to have jettison the economic opportunities. Specifically, the study objectives are to ascertain the components that motivate Nigerian youths to set out into agribusiness in rural communities, examine the challenges of Nigerian youths’ employability skills in agribusiness of the rural communities in southwest Nigeria, and assess the mechanisms to confront the challenges being faced by Nigerian youths’ employability skills in agribusiness of the rural communities in southwest Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. A questionnaire was used to collect adequate data from the target respondents (youths in agribusiness), with a sample size of 100. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted to sample the rural communities and the respondents. The study reveals that the inability to get a job pushed youths into agribusiness (71 per cent); lack of insurance policy towards agribusiness (88 per cent) and regular training towards incubation purposes is good leverage for youth employability (78 per cent). It, therefore, recommends that relevant stakeholders should further make agribusiness more lucrative by coming up with policies that will entice youths to venture into agribusiness. Also, relevant stakeholders should work towards the complete eradication of the impediments.

This Handbook has been created for development partners and civil society actors that design and implement youth employment interventions, particularly in contexts marked by fragility and political-economic crises. Youth employment programmes usually strengthen young people’s business and entrepreneurship skills. They fail to consider the civic and political competencies needed by young people in order to negotiate fair, safe, and decent working conditions and influence the wider policy environment for decent work. The Handbook offers suggestions for integrating youth active citizenship strategies into youth employment interventions, thus building young people’s civic and political skills. Adopting these strategies will strengthen the capacities of young people to engage both private sector and government actors, foster inclusion, and strengthen coalitions that can influence a enabling environment for decent jobs for youth. Recognising that many young people start their trade and businesses in theinformal economy, the Handbook takes their experiences as the point of departure. It is widely recognised that political economy matters for development and development interventions. This also applies to youth employment programming. Ideas in this Handbook recognise that politics influence youth employment opportunities. This is particularly the case in contexts commonly referred to as fragile, conflict-affected and violent settings (FCVS). Approaches to youth employment interventions need to respond to these dynamics to avoid that powerful actors capture them to serve their interests and avoid increasing risks to conflict. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic has proved that fragility is multidimensional and manifests in many countries across the globe. Early on in the pandemic, it quickly became clear that the informal economy would be hard hit. In addition, the challenging politics of FCVS influence opportunities for both formal and informal employment.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a shared global socio-economic struggle against an invisible public health enemy. Not only women, children and resource-dependent communities are contracting COVID-19, but also they are among the most severely impacted socio-economic entities. The COVID-19 pandemic is profoundly affecting the everyday lives of women, child laborers and resource-dependent communities. Their physical and mental health, their social and the economic circumstances are also adversely affected. Social distancing requirements, business closures and travel restrictions associated with COVID-19 have all led to a drop in socio-economic activities, the losses of incomes and livelihoods, and increased household poverty. The paper assesses the level of risks for women, children and resource-dependent communities in the COVID-19 situation in the extractive sector in Tanzania. This descriptive paper uses results of the HR field research survey of 2020 that included stakeholders’ workshop, intensive desk study or literature review, field research surveys, data management and policy analysis.
 The viruses that cause COVID-19 have high health risks of effecting and affecting people of all ages, gender, races and nations. The levels of risks for women violence, child and youth labour unemployment and resource-dependent communities are high.
 The paper recommends that the government and all extractive sector companies should ensure there is no child labour and should enhance youth employment. It is also recommended that children be protected from all possible health hazards. Extractive industries have to create employment opportunities for both male and female youths. All the extractive sector firms have to embark on sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility strategies so as to minimize COVID-19 risks to all resource-dependent communities.