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Anne Lanham, Lillian Mwanri

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Tertiary Level Entrepreneurship Training and Alleviation of Educated Youth Un- and Underemployment in Uganda

Mshilla Maghanga

Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, Gulu University, P.O. Box 166, Gulu, Uganda

Abstract: Despite being educated and more so in entrepreneurship skills development, many tertiary institution graduates in Uganda are jobless. Considering that entrepreneurship training stresses on self-employment and job creation, its effectiveness is thus questionable. This study sought to establish the contribution of tertiary level entrepreneurship training in addressing un- and underemployment problems over a period of 8 years (2009-2016). A descriptive study design was adopted. Descriptive analysis of secondary data collected from credible databases, the main one being the Uganda Bureau of Statistics was carried out. It was established that unemployment in Uganda is on an increase; the employment problems were experienced in terms of gender and by residence – urban or rural; time related underemployment was more prominent than the skills and income related forms of unemployment; of the 18 entrepreneurship programmes accredited, 61.1% were at bachelor’s degree level; 33.3% at diploma level; 5.6% at postgraduate level but none at Masters’ and PhD levels. Contrary to the expectations, entrepreneurship training does not seem to translate into employment either by self or other. It was concluded that educated youth un-and underemployment are on the rise in Uganda; that the problems are worse in the urban than rural settings; and that entrepreneurship training has failed to alleviate the employment problems. It was recommended that more technical entrepreneurial training be introduced to spur self-employment, and that, internship and volunteer programmes be introduced under the Public-Private-Partnership arrangement to shape the skills and attitude of the youth.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, educated youth, unemployment, underemployment, tertiary institution, Uganda

Citation: Mshilla Maghanga, Tertiary Level Entrepreneurship Training and Alleviation of Educated Youth Un- and Underemployment in Uganda. Journal of Behavioural Economics Finance Entrepreneurship Accounting and Transport, 6 (1). 1-11. January 2018. doi:10.12691/jbe-6-1-1

1. Introduction

The traditionally perceived outcome of successful completion of tertiary education training has been employment. Whereas this was true in the past, the situation seems to be changing the world over. Unemployment of educated youth has become a persistent problem that many countries have now recognized as an issue that requires fixing. Underemployment which was seen as a stop-gap measure to employment has since become a permanency. While the International Labour Organization (ILO) defines unemployment as a state where someone is without a job and he/she has actively looked for work within the past four weeks without success, it can be defined as a state the where individuals of the age group 14-64 years (18-30 years in this study), who during a reference period are without work but are available for paid employment or self-employment [1]. On the other hand, underemployment is where such individuals are not fully utilized in terms of hours of work, skills, and earnings. In this study, educated youth unemployment refers to the failure to secure paying jobs by young tertiary institution graduates aged 18-30 years.

This study adopted the definition by the 1995 Constitution of Uganda that a youth is anyone aged between 18 and 30 years and the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) of Uganda’s definition of a tertiary institution as being that which provides post-secondary school education such as public and private universities and national teachers colleges. The definitions that entrepreneurship is “the art of identifying viable business opportunities and mobilizing resources to convert those opportunities into a successful enterprise through creativity, innovation, risk taking and progressive imagination” [2] and eentrepreneurship skills development (ESD) is the process of enhancing entrepreneurial skills and knowledge through structured training and institution building programs [3] were adopted

Global youth unemployment stands at about 73 million for the age group 15 – 24 years old [4]. The situation is more pronounced in the developing countries whose level of economy is low. For instance, in Nigeria the unemployment rate increased from 21.1% in 2010 to 23.9% in 2011 [5]. Uganda, with 78% of its population aged below 30 years, has an unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 of 83%. The rate for the urban based degree holders is even higher [6]. In an attempt to address the un- and underemployment problems, the Government of Uganda has opted for youth entrepreneurship training among other options [7].

1.1. Background

Globally, the educated youth un- and underemployment problems have threatened the very basis of education. The ILO states that of the one billion people aged 15-25 years globally, about 40% are below 20 years of age [8]. Approximately 88.2 million youth account for the 185.9 million unemployed persons in the world and many more for the underemployed. Making education more meaningful and more inclusive to the educated youth has been a global challenge according to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) [8]. As much as education is recognized as one of the most critical means of addressing poverty and inequality, its quality, especially in developing economies is not up to date as the system fails to empower the students to think for themselves and develop in them a creative mindset [9]. In Canada, the average youth unemployment rate (15-24) was 13.7% in 2013 which was 2.3 times that of workers aged 25-54 which stood at 5.9% [10]. Whereas lack of education may “justify” youth un- and underemployment as skills and knowledge are considered as “a-must-have” by many employers, a good certificate, diploma or degree in any fields is not. Further still if this qualification is in ESD.

The quest for answers as to how entrepreneurship training at tertiary institutions contributes to the alleviation of the educated youth un- and underemployment has led into a number of researches by different scholars globally. This study, too, was conceived under the same premise going by the magnitude of un- and underemployment of youth in Uganda despite the many entrepreneurial academic programmes that have been accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

The ILO asserts that “unemployment” occurs when someone is without a job and he/she has actively looked for work within the past four weeks, while “unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labour force”. Considering that the employed can equally lose the employment, both un- and underemployment can vary from time to time. Both of these problems affect the Ugandan youth and as such were studied. Other than that, youth unemployment is a serious policy challenge in Africa, more so in the sub-Saharan region [11]. In the year 2013 youth aged 15 to 24 in sub-Saharan Africa were twice likely to be unemployed compared to any other age cohort [11]. “In Africa, unemployment and underemployment continue to be major obstacles to the full utilization of human resources despite relatively strong growth in the region over the years [12]”. This is challenging considering that the youth in Africa constitute the largest population. Uganda has one of the fastest growing and youngest populations in the world [13]. Considering the current states of affairs, this can only be projected to be a “time bomb” as the youth un- and underemployment problems are bound to escalate. Statistics indicate that the global population growth rate is higher than that of the new job creation. In Uganda, youth unemployment stands at between 64% and 70%, with about 400,000 youths joining the job market annually to compete for approximately 9,000 available jobs [14]. The several interventions by the government, and even by development partners, have not fully addressed the problem. One such initiative is the introduction of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) in secondary level of education and Entrepreneurship skills development (ESD) in tertiary institutions.

1.2. Problem Statement

Many youth attain certificates, diplomas and degrees in entrepreneurship from universities and other tertiary institutions every year only to get a rude shock that the job market cannot offer them employment and neither can they be self-employed. About 30% of the youths coming out of schools and colleges fail to get employment [14]. A number of them toil for years and while some are finally lucky to be employed, others are underemployed, and yet again, many others are not as lucky. In Kenya for instance, unemployment rates estimated in the 2009 Kenya Population Census suggest that open unemployment among youth aged 15-19 and 20-24 years is significantly larger than that of the entire working age group. As much as the government and other stakeholders tend to put more focus on unemployment, there should be sustained effort to address labour market related challenges that encompass remedies for “inactivity” and “poor quality jobs” as well [12]. The indication that Uganda, one of the Sub-Saharan African countries, has one of the fastest growing and youngest populations in the world, only serves to complicate the matter [13]. The entrepreneurship-trained youth un- and underemployment problems are, therefore, bound to be compounded by the high youth population.

The National Employment Policy for Uganda [NEPU] acknowledges that unemployment is one of the principle challenges that the Government has to grapple with year-in year-out [2]. As indicated by the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) of 2009/10 the unemployment rate has fluctuated over the years. It was reported to be 3.2% in 2003; 1.9% in 2006; and 3.6% in 2009/10 financial year. The Policy, however, indicates that the situation on the ground could be worse than what is portrayed by these rates. While the youth unemployment in Uganda stands at between 64% and 70% [14], over 78% of the population is below the age of 30 and that with just under eight million youth aged 15-30, the country also has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Sub-Saharan Africa [15]. While the percentage unemployment in Uganda rose from 1.9% through 4.2% to 9.4% in the years 2006, 2010, and 2013 respectively, the numbers of unemployed persons rose from 209,700, through 480,300 to 817,245 for the same years [16].

While in Africa, un- and underemployment have partly been blamed on the unmatched higher birth and school completion rates compared to that of job creation, the problems of un- and unemployment in Uganda have further been associated with its poor economy that cannot sustain the growing need for jobs and to the relatively low life expectance at birth of about 63.3 years where that of females is 64.2 years against that of males of 62.2 years based on the 2014 census [17]. Most of the urban youth in Uganda are unemployed despite being highly educated. While in Nigeria the problem of the educated unemployment may be blamed on the disconnection between effective technical/vocational education and the development of an entrepreneurial culture [18], this correlation is unclear in the case of Uganda, and thus formed the basis for this study. With the high levels of un- and underemployment coupled with the fact that a number of practicing entrepreneurs are not among the educated youth or those who studied entrepreneurship, there is doubt as to what extent ESD training contributes towards alleviated these problems.

1.3. Purpose and Study Objectives

This study aimed at reviewing the contribution of ESD training in addressing the educated youth un- and underemployment problems in Uganda. This was premised on the fact that ESD training was aimed at creating entrepreneurs who in turn will create jobs for themselves and others. The objectives that guided this study were: (1) to review the ESD curricula in tertiary institutions in Uganda; (2) to assess the magnitude of the educated youth un- and underemployment problems in Uganda, and (3) to assess the contribution of ESD training in the employment of educated youth in Uganda,

1.4. Scope of Study

This study focused on Uganda, one of the member states of the East African Community (EAC). It explored educated youth un- and underemployment problems and how entrepreneurship skills development training in universities and other tertiary institutions contributes towards alleviating the same. A period of eight (8) years (2009-2016) was considered and annual national statistics as published by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and the Uganda National Council for Higher Education (UNCHE) and other sources were consulted.

1.5. Conceptual Framework

The key variables in this study were entrepreneurship training at the tertiary level and educated youth employment, the lack of which is un- or underemployment. The relationship between the training and employment whether self or otherwise, is as illustrated in Figure 1. It was conceptualised that by empowering youth with entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attitude they will be highly competitive in the job market and better still be self-employed and job creators. ESD could also lead to high labour supply or if not well done to ill-trained graduates and in both instances result into un- and underemployment.

2. Methodology

A descriptive research design was adopted while the research approach was quantitative. The study covered a period of eight years (2009 – 2016) and it was conducted in Uganda, a country endowed with fertile soils and which when coupled with the heavy rains experienced throughout the year make it an agricultural country with 72% of its working population engaged in this sector. Its population stands at 34.6 million with the youth (18-30 years) accounting for 23% of this according to the National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) of 2014 [17]. The population of persons below the age of 18 years is 55% while 78% of it is 30 years and below.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework relating entrepreneurship training to youth employment

Secondary statistical data on educated youth enrolment into tertiary institutions, the courses they undertook, youth un- and underemployment, accredited entrepreneurship inclined tertiary level academic programmes, distribution of youth un- and underemployment based on gender and residence among others were also collected. The data were obtained from the official websites of UBOS, NCHE, MoES, World Bank database, Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), and Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB). The reliability of the data collected was pegged on the credibility of these sources.

Indicators considered in this study included the numbers of youth enrolling in to tertiary institutions, the percentages of un- and employment or their rates, the number of accredited entrepreneurship programmes in tertiary institutions, the contribution of ESD to youth employment, and those that helped gauge the degree of mismatch between ESD and job creation by the educated youth. Only descriptive analysis could be carried out where frequencies and percentages were generated using Microsoft Excel software. Other computations included calculating differences or summing up of different categories of data to help address the different study objectives. Frequency charts and graphs were generated to help establish the availability of trends over the eight year study period. Narratives were used to help explain the emergent results as seen in the frequencies, percentages, tables and figures.

3. Results

3.1. Entrepreneurship Skills Development Curricula in Tertiary Institutions in Uganda

It was established that, currently in Uganda, EE training is being conducted at the Ordinary and Advanced levels of secondary education while ESD training takes place at tertiary institutions. This implies that many school leavers and graduates in Uganda have had some training in entrepreneurship. As much as this study focused on tertiary institutions, the EE student enrolment at the secondary school levels (Ordinary and Advanced levels) was reviewed to bring to the fore the base for ESD at the tertiary level. It was established that the popularity of EE training grew very fast upon its introduction leading to more ‘A’ Level students taking it as one of their four chosen subjects than in ‘O’ Level as shown in Figure 2 [19]. The policy change by the MoES that required that ‘A’ Level students take 3 rather than 4 principal subjects led to the decline in enrolment. With the training taking place in many tertiary institutions, more students are still taking up the subject at that level.

These findings suggest that many youth who have gone through the education system in Uganda have been exposed to entrepreneurship even if they did not take up the subject at the tertiary level of learning. Figure 3 shows the enrolment for all programmes at the tertiary level for the period 2009 to 2014 in Uganda unlike Figure 2 which is specifically for EE.

The study established that both the enrolment into the universities and that at other tertiary institutions indicates upward trends although that of the former was always higher. Looking at the list of accredited ESD related programmes between 2010 and 2016 it can be deduced that the enrolment for the programmes substantially contributed to the overall university and other tertiary institution enrolment. The study further established that of the eighteen (18) entrepreneurship programmes from fifteen (15) institutions were accredited by NCHE between 2009 and 2016 the specific programmes varied at the different tertiary sub-levels as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 2. UCE & UACE EE Programmes Candidates from 2009 - 2013

Figure 3. Enrolment at Tertiary Institutions in Uganda (2009-2014)

Figure 4. Distribution of ESD NCHE Accredited Programmes by Academic Level

While most institutions had only one entrepreneurship based programme accredited, some had more than one. It emerged that the majority (61.1%) of ESD programmes were at bachelor’s degree level, followed by those at diploma level (33.3%), finally at postgraduate level (5.6%). None were at Masters’ or PhD levels. What were not captured were the entrepreneurship programmes that were accredited before 2009 as this was outside the scope of this study. The study also did not capture accredited programmes which contain entrepreneurship just one of the taught core or elective subject such as many business- and agriculture-based academic programmes in tertiary institutions. Collectively, the ESD accredited programmes at the bachelor’s degree and ordinary diploma levels accounted for 94.4% of all accredited programmes.

3.2. Magnitude of Educated Youth Un- and Underemployment Problems in Uganda

According to the findings, the annual rate of unemployment in Uganda has fluctuated over the years and that the female youth unemployment rate has always been higher than that of male youth (Table 1).

Table 1. Unemployment Rates in Uganda between 1998 and 2013

These statistics indicate that there was generally an increase in the percentage of unemployment rate between 1998 and 2013, five years later. While the total unemployment rate increased by only 0.1% (from 3.70% to 3.80%) over the 5 years, that of the youth unemployment more or less doubled (3.60% to 7.30%). While the total male and female unemployment rates were equal, those of the female and male youth rose by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively over the five year period. The number of institutions from which the graduates come from increased from about 94 in 2009 to 128 in 2016.

The total number of universities and other tertiary institutions in Uganda increased from 117 in 2009 to 205 in 2016. While the overall percentage increase for all institutions was 75.2% that of institutions with possible ESD trainings was 36.2%. The total enrolment into tertiary institutions, on the other hand, rose from 118,572 in 2009 to 220,401 in 2016 (85.9% increase) as shown in Figure 6. Over the eight year period, the enrolment for male youth increased by 81.6% compared to that of female of 91.5%.

Figure 5. Universities and other Tertiary Institutions offering EE Training in Uganda

Figure 6. Enrolment into Tertiary Institutions by Gender

Figure 7. Comparison of Annual Enrolment between Male and Female candidates

The enrolment captured here is not specific to ESD courses but is gross. The consolidated figures were, however, important because they were an indirect measure considering that even non-entrepreneurship programmes such as business administration, development studies, medicine, and pharmacy, have been reported to teach entrepreneurship as either a core or elective subject. It was also established that the annual percentage enrolment proportionality between of male and female youth into tertiary institutions was relatively stable throughout the eight-year study period with a range of 42.3-44.7% for females against that of males of 55.3-57.7%. In summary, the male candidates’ enrolment was always higher during the study period.

Figure 7 further shows that there was an increase in enrolment every year of study and that the ratio of enrolment for male verses the female youth was around 3:2 throughout. Against this enrolment are the problems of un- and underemployment. While the enrolment gives an indication of the youth population exposed to ESD, the Uganda Employment Indicators for the FY 2011/12 gives actual figures of un- and underemployment as of then (UBOS, 2016). The comparison of annual enrolment between male and female candidates is shown in Figure 8.

The results show that all the youth parameters (total population, number in employment, and number unemployed) for female youth were higher than those of male youth. The difference between the unemployed was, however, significantly higher compared to the other two. As for residence of the youth, there was a significant difference in all the three parameters between the rural and the urban based youth. According to these findings, there were youths 3.6 times more residing in the rural compared to the urban settings.

The comparison of un- and underemployment of youth by gender and residence as shown in Figure 9 demostrate that the problems of un- and underemployment were experienced not only in terms of gender but also by residence – urban or rural.

Figure 8. Comparison of Annual Enrolment between Male and Female candidates

Figure 9. Comparison of Un- and Underemployment of Youth by Gender and Residence

Figure 10. Percentage Underemployment by Gender and Residence

While the percentage of female youth not in labour force (32.4%) was higher than that of the male (25.4%), there were more underemployed male youth (27.7%) against 24.5% of the female. There were both more youth not in labour force and underemployed in the urban settings than in the rural. This could partly be due to rural-urban migration of educated youth in search for employment.

Figure 10 shows the results in terms of percentages of time related, skills related, and income related underemployment by gender and residence. Of the three forms of underemployment (time related, skills related, and income related), time related underemployment was more prominent in both the male and female youth while the skills related was the least of the three. The skills related underemployment was established to be about three times that of the time related underemployment. In terms of residence, the time related underemployment of the urban setting was just about one half that of the rural setting. However, the skills related and the income related underemployment percentages were higher in the urban compared to the rural settings.

4. Discussions

4.1. Entrepreneurship Skills Development Curricula in Tertiary Institutions

The number of tertiary institutions in Uganda has increased so fast over the years arising from the Government’s encouragement to private participation in the education sector [17]. The government has promoted Private Public Partnerships (PPPs) in many sectors, education being among them. This was on the realisation that many school leavers qualify for higher education training and the available spaces in all the public tertiary institutions cannot absorb all. The universities remain the most preferred destination to which effect 66 percent of the tertiary enrolment in 2014 was from universities [17]. Indeed, the findings of this study indicate that the bachelor’s degree level accounted for 61.1% of entrepreneurship programmes at tertiary institutions level, followed by diploma level (33.3%), the postgraduate level (5.6%), and zero percent (0%) at the Masters’ of PhD levels. According to Uganda NCHE, the law requires that it accredits all tertiary institution programmes. Of interest in this study is the teaching of EE. As shown in the results, since 2009 to 2016, UNCHE has accredited very many entrepreneurship based courses that are currently being taught in universities and other tertiary institutions. As it was mentioned, the results presented were only for those programmes accredited between 2010 and 2016 (which was within this study’s time scope) leaving out many more accredited earlier and also those non-entrepreneurship programmes but in which entrepreneurship is taught as either a core or elective course unit

The significance of ESD cannot be overemphasized considering what it is and what it is meant to achieve as relates to the un- and underemployment of educated youth. It should be part of the curriculum in colleges and universities and the government should enforce all colleges and universities to teach and examine it to all students as a pre-requisite before graduation [20]. The enrolments in higher institutions of learning in Uganda have almost doubled in the last five years prior to 2002 [21]. This is attributed to the introduction of more private institutions, private sponsorship of students at government institutions and creation of more courses, which are commercially oriented. The best way of making entrepreneurship relevant in addressing youth unemployment is to start with curriculum review to bring in instrumental or problem solving curricula away from the traditional incremental or cumulative based curricula [18]. Further, the curriculum needs to focus on technical and scientific subjects and should be student centered [18]. To encourage the trainees to venture into business, the curriculum should also cover business idea generation as a key component. This is supported by the report by the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) in Uganda which indicates that the education curriculum of Uganda needs to be reviewed by including education focused entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy, savings, and the thrifty use of resources [22]. Lessons can be picked from Germany and Austria where dual training has ensured that every college graduate is ready for the job market or is sufficiently equipped to be an entrepreneur as this dual training system offers a practice-oriented curriculum where the students spend about twice as time in the industry compared to that in class [23].

4.2. Magnitude of Educated Youth Un- and Underemployment Problem in Uganda

According to the findings of this study, there was generally an increase in the percentage of unemployment in Uganda and that between 1998 and 2013 the youth unemployment shot from 3.60% to 7.30%, with that of urban youth being higher than that of their rural counterparts. Further, the problem is worse amongst the female youth. These findings draw similarities from many quarters. For instance, according to the World Bank, unemployment rate for young people ages 15–24 in general is at 83% while that of those who have formal degrees and live in the urban areas is even higher [24]. About 87% of graduates in Uganda cannot find jobs [25]; while the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) posit that youth aged 15-19 years constituted 29% of the national population as of 2001 with the female youth accounting for 53% of the youth [26]. The findings that un- and underemployment problems persisted throughout the study period (2009 -2016) are supported by the statement by MGLSD that the major problems affecting youth are poverty, unemployment and underemployment.

The un- and underemployment problems in Uganda are as a result of limited employment opportunities. Of the existing employment opportunities, only 20.7%, an equivalent of 2.8 million out of a total of 13.4 million is employed for wages [2]. Of this, only 14.0% is on permanent employment while 86.0% is on temporary employment. Further still, 79% of the labour force is self-employed or employed as unpaid family workers in the agriculture sector. The findings agrees the Kenya Bureau of Statistics which indicate that about 400,000 graduates entered the job market in 2014 in Kenya against 103,000 formal job opportunities available then [23]. Further, the UBOS statistics indicate that youth (18-30 years old) constitute over 95% of the 400,000 labour market entrants annually in Uganda and that the youth share of unemployment is increasing from 42% in 1997; 58% in 2003; and 65% in 2006. It, however, reduced to 53.4% in 2009/10.

These statistics and many more have been rather depressing not only to the educated youth alone, but to their parents, guardians, and dependant as well. Many of the educated youth are from poor backgrounds and it is not uncommon that for them to attain the education they have their parents have to sell off family assets such as land and cattle with the notion that they are investing and that harvest time will be as soon as the youth graduate. In an attempt to address the youth un- and underemployment problems, the GoU has formalised externalisation of labour which has allowed many youth access employment abroad [2] by establishing an External Employment Unit in the Ministry of Labour. The GoU has also established the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) which was aimed at providing the unemployed and poor youth with marketable vocational skills and tool kits for self-employment and job creation, and to make youth entrepreneurship a life skill [28].

A glimmer of hope towards alleviating this youth un- and underemployment problem as stated by NEPU is the emerging employment opportunities are anticipated in Uganda as a result of petroleum exploration through chain and multiplier effect [2]. The direct employment opportunities are to professionals such as chemists and engineers, semi-skilled and unskilled youth are bound to get employment as a result of the exploration. Educated youth entrepreneurs can also tap into this considering that the petroleum sector will offer business opportunities for the private sector over and above improving the purchasing power of the above youth who may benefit from the direct employment.

Uganda’s economy is private-sector led. This is supported by the fact that employment in the public sector is not growing [2]. For instance, the annual average growth rate of government wage employment over the period 1992 to 2009/10 was negative zero point six percent (-0.6%). What this means is that the public sector should not be seen as the one that will solve the educated youth un- and underemployments problems, but rather the private sector. Within the public sector employment is largely in the agriculture and fishing sub-sectors going by their 69.4% combined share followed by trade and manufacturing at 8.9% and 5.6% respectively. All the other sub-sectors represent less than 5.0% each. Considering the high rural-urban migration rate of the educated youth, these statistics point out that the youth actually move away from the potential employer (agriculture) hence the high urban educated youth un- and underemployment compared to the rural setting.

According to the UNHS 2009/10, the informal sector employment in Uganda is significant considering that there are 1.2 million households operated off-farm informal businesses in which 3.5 million people are employed. Although the unemployment rate of Uganda of 7.3% is not as high as that of South Africa (52.0%); Swaziland (41.9%); Namibia (34.2%); Kenya (17.0%); Burundi (12.9%); and Tanzania (6.5%) [29], this should not be a consolation since every working-age person deserves to be employed.

4.3. Mismatch between ESD training and Educated Youth Employability

It was established that there is may be a skill mismatch between the education system and employers’ expectations when comparing the enthusiasm of ESD training and the un- and underemployment statistics in Uganda. There are several literatures that points out that there exist mismatches between education systems as offered in different countries and the expectations of the employers to which such systems were developed [13]. Among them is a study by Haile (2003) who indicates that in urban Uganda there are very highly educated but un- and underemployed youth which seems to suggest that as much as they may have gone through the best education systems in the country, the education and skills they acquired were not what employers look for. Another one is by Peter (2013) who posits that high school and universities concentrate more on grades with little regard to labour market requirements, as such, the mismatch between skills and labour market requirements is one of the major reasons for educated youth unemployment [30]. With this, university graduates more often than not lack crucial skills expected of them from their specific fields of study and, further, studies show that the Ugandan school system has failed students in that it is far too theoretical and is not preparing them adequately to match the employers’ expectations for failure to have adequate skills [13].

5. Conclusions

The following conclusions were drawn.

i. The magnitude of the educated youth un- and underemployment is alarming.

ii. Female educated youth are worse off compared to their male counterparts in unemployment

iii. The educated youth un- and underemployment problems are worse in the urban compared to the rural settings

iv. Entrepreneurship training has not addressed the educated youth un- and underemployment problems effectively

6. Recommendations

The following are the recommendations of this study.

• A focus on technical training on top of EE training should be emphasized to spur self-employment since it is evident that the government cannot create enough jobs for all its youth and that this situation is further complicated by the youth population being the largest and still growing.

• The government should take advantage of the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement to fight the un- and underemployment by providing internship openings which can help shape the skills and attitude of the educated youth.

• The educated youth should look out for opportunities such as volunteer positions that will equip them with skills and expose them to real life situation as they endeavour to seek for jobs or start their own businesses.

References

[1]   | International Labour Organisation [ILO] (2009), World of Work Report 2008.
[2]   | NEPU National Employment Policy for Uganda.
[3]   | United Nations Development Program [UNDP], (1999).
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