49% vocational graduates can’t find jobs - report
The study also indicated that more female graduates are employed whereas more male graduates started their own enterprises. PHOTO | FILE
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- The findings from the Tracer and Labour Market Assessment Study further revealed that hair dressing, carpentry and tailoring were the commonest sources of livelihood among the youths.
Forty-nine percent of youths who completed vocational studies between 2017 and 2022 are unemployed because they lack start-up capital or kits, a new study has shown.
According to a research that was conducted in Kampala, Mbarara and in Nakivale refugee camps in 2020 and 2021, only 41 percent of the trainees were either employed or self-employed.
The findings from the Tracer and Labour Market Assessment Study further revealed that hair dressing, carpentry and tailoring were the commonest sources of livelihood among the youths.
Ms Gloria Athieno, the regional coordinator of Windle International –Uganda, a non-governmental organisation, said the government has played a vital role in skilling youths, but the trainees will be wasted because they are not empowered to start businesses.
Ms Athieno said some start-up kits for programmes such as construction, hair dressing and carpentry were cheap and can easily be accessed by the youths. She, however, said kits for motor vehicle and other science programmes are expensive and are not readily affordable to the youths.
The government was advised to come up with an element of start-up kits in institutions training vocational learners so that when they (students) complete their studies, they have where to start from.
“Start-up kits are very key and are very relevant for the resilience of the youth for self-starting. The data indicates that youths who access these kits were able to start their own small businesses compared to their counterparts who had nothing,” the report stated.
The studies further noted that 63 percent of those employed are practising their field of study while 37 per-cent were not.
Tailoring and garment cutting graduates managed to get employment or started up their own tailoring businesses. This was followed by motor vehicles and hairdressing.
The study also indicated that more female graduates are employed whereas more male graduates started their own enterprises.
The study, which was commissioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was aimed at establishing the status of Nakivale VTC graduates who live within Nakivale refugee settlement, urban centres and those who relocated to other communities.
The director of programmes at Windle International –Uganda, Mr Robert Bahenyangi, asked the government to double the scholarships it dishes out to students to increase youths’ access to higher education.
He said this, coupled with start-up kits, will reduce youth unemployment.
“There are many public universities in the country, but the level of intake for government sponsorship is extremely very low given the number of learners who complete A-Level. The government should increase these numbers,” Mr Bahenyanhi said.
“The government has a number of institutions which provide skills to youths, but the youths are still unemployed. The government must provide kits for youths,” he added.
The principal of Nakivale Vocational Technical Centre, Mr Richard Mugume, said Covid-19 continues to affect skilling programmes.
“We have the capacity of accommodating 600 learners, but at the moment, we only have 200. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, we had 400 learners. We suspect some got married or pregnant while others dropped out, ” Mr Mugume said.
According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics figures about 400,000 youths are released annually into the job market to compete for approximately 9,000 available jobs.
