EDUCATION AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN KENYA

Conventionally, “School” is perceived as the most important means of preparing young people for the future. African scholars use the term “school” to refer to the educational system in all its forms. With such level of significance education is seen as one of the main determinants of unemployment rate given that it equips young people with skills for economic and life survival. This is why most studies have found strong link between educational level and employment rate.

However, education in African countries, and Kenya in particular, is less effective in providing young people with employable and life skills. This gap is orchestrated by many factors from primary to higher education. From the formative stages children attend schools in conditions that seem to “brutalize” them physically and psychologically. These range from learning facilities (mostly dilapidated or non-existent), nutrition is boarding schools, and most recently ‘commercialization’ of education through remedial classes at extra costs, selling national exam leakages, and teachers demanding sexual favours for marks. These are cases that have been frequently reported in Kenya.  These challenges kill the morale of learners in pursuit of education. 

Pupils during a class session in Kibera Slums

 To parents in Kenya, especially in rural setting, education and success in life are synonymous; implying a well paying job, a big house and cars among other fringe benefits. As a result, high unemployment rate among young graduates discourages pupils in lower levels since education attainment is no longer the gatekeeper success. Most young people therefore fail to invest in higher education.

Consequently, the disenchantment in higher education is counter-productive. Studies have established relationship between educational rates of return and unemployment rate.  The explanation goes that when young people invest in their education they decrease their unemployment opportunity cost. That is to say, there is lower risk of unemployment at higher levels of education because educated workers find new jobs or adapt to workforce market easily as a result of job training and market demand. Also, human resource practitioners point out that educated workers are efficient in seeking new jobs and bargaining for more wages.

 

Graduands unleashed into job market

Contrarily, a study by African Development Bank (AfDB) reveals that young people with highest education levels tend to take long to search for a job and have higher unemployment rates than those who are less well educated. The trend is blamed on high wage expectation coupled with unwillingness to take up jobs in the informal sector.

Further, a study in Kenya by a renowned social researcher, Awuor Ponge, revealed miss-match between skills possessed by young workers and those demanded by employers. The study recommends that educational system in terms of vocation and technical training must be transformed to provide youth with relevant skills to adapt to labour market. In line with this finding, AfDB observes that institutions of higher learning (in Kenya) equip the students with theoretical knowledge and are not cognizant of the fact that the demands of job market are changing with time.

It is little wonder that most employers put up as prerequisite for some appointments age limit and extensive experience. As such young people are locked out. This is worrying for the reason that 1.2 million young Kenyans enter labour market without formal training. According to Kenya Country Report for the Ministerial Conference on Youth Employment in 2014, at age 24 only 11% of young Kenyans have formal training. Policy makers must devise ways of continually reviewing curriculum to respond to skill levels demanded by dynamic labour market. Education must cease being mere numeracy and literacy. 

Shem Sam is researcher and statistician. He is also youth and governance specialist. shem.sam@gmail.com Mobile: +254712505196

AN INSIGHT INTO YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN KENYA

Today September 24, 2015, the world marks transition from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs will be declared during United Nations General Assemblies (UNGA) between 25^th and 27^th September by presidents following a consultative people owned process.

 Even with the revamping of MDGs into SDGs, the conditions of young people in Africa, and Kenya in particular, have not been improved as was envisioned. It is the expectation of young people that there is a fundamental shift from just another ‘global political declaration’ to a new transformative and ambitious development framework that will provide national governments with a road map on measures to meaningfully improve young people’s quality of life ( and lead to fulfillment of their rights).

In Kenya, the most pressing issue among youth is unemployment. The Kenya constitution defines youth as persons between the ages of 18 and 35. In country, youth constitute 35% of the population. The youth population almost tripled from 4.94 million in 1979 to 13.67 in 2009. In 2009, Kenya’s population was projected to be 46.33 million in 2015 and 69.93 million by 2030. This implies that youth population is 35.35% this year and will be 35.18% in 2030. According to 2009 Census the youth population expressed as a percentage of adult was 66.6%.

Consequently, with these staggering numbers, also described as “youth bulge”, the Kenyan youth are afflicted by many challenges. Key among them is unemployment. The youth cohort is experiencing much higher unemployment rates at 67% than the rest of the Kenyan population at 34%. For young people of this country, there exists a small formal sector alongside a large informal sector. As such majority of youth are involved in the informal sector.

Every year, there are more young entrants in the job market than actual jobs created. For instance, there are 200,000 youth without primary education; 300,000 primary school drop-outs; 250,000 KCPE certificate but fail to join secondary school; 180,000 secondary school drop-outs; 250,000 KCSE certificates but fail to join tertiary institutions; 45,000 tertiary institutions drop outs, and 155,000 graduates. These figures imply that 1.2 million youth enter job market every year whereas not more than 500,000 jobs are created annually. For instance, the target for total job creation in 2009 was 425,000 but the actual jobs created were 467,300 of which 433,500 were in the informal sector, 33,700 were wage employees and 100 were self employed.

Previous studies have revealed that youth unemployment is costly for any country.  These studies have established a positive relationship between employment rates and countries economic development. In this regard, youth unemployment rate has negative impact to country’s GDP.  For instance, a study in Turkey in 2012, noted that when the economic activity is healthy and developing, youth employment will be better. However, economic crises affect general employment negatively.

 On the same note, youth employment result into increased aggregate demand as well as increase in capital formation. Further on this, International Labour Organization argues that youth are likely to spend a higher percentage of their income on goods and services, which boost the countries’ aggregate demand. Again, youth who receive higher salaries make savings and invest or deposit them in banks resulting in increased pool of capital which can be used to finance SME and start small businesses thereby boosting a counties economic development. It is also commonplace knowledge that young people have a marginal propensity to consume more than adults. Therefore, unemployment rate in young people negatively affects consumption and total investment.

In another twist, youth employment reduces social costs within the societies by decrease in violence, criminal activities, drug addiction and prostitution. The “youth bulge” and attending challenges of unemployment result in increase social evils and political violence (rioting, civil war and terrorism) if left to accumulate over a period of time.

It is commendable that young people and other stakeholders, both state and non-state actors, are doing many things to improve youth conditions. The British High Commission Chevening Scholars, Young African Leadership Initiative, Youth Enterprise Development Fund, Office of the President, Young Achievers Association, Organization of African Youth, Africa Youth Trust, Action 2015, Council of Governors and many others actors are ameliorating the conditions of young people in Kenya.

However, while young people laud both previous Grand Coalition and current Julibee administrations for youth targeted preferential interventions, a lot more needs to be done to curb accumulated youth unemployment backlog for the prosperity of this country.

Lastly, we hope that UNGA and all governments represented have learnt crucial lessons from implementation of MDGs and making amends for complete success of SDGs for the benefit of young people worldwide. 

Shem Sam is a researcher and an expert in youth and governance:  Email: shem.sam@gmail.com