Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Vol. 2 No. 3
Abstract
The graduate labour market has changed considerably. There are more and more university graduates
experiencing difficulties in entering the graduate labour market. The greatest challenge for graduates in this era
will be to develop themselves to become employable. Any university seeking relevance today must produce
graduates who would employ people rather than searching for employment. This study has looked at best
practices from around Africa and also the national manifestations of graduate unemployment. Using as example
three innovative practices in Kenyan universities, the study concludes that there are a lot of opportunities
available in Kenya through which Universities could forge partnerships for purposes of addressing the graduate
unemployability situation. It stresses on the need to develop graduate development and employment programs;
introduction of the skills training and employment placement programmes; Micro and Small Enterprise
development and commitment of the government through budgetary provisions for youth entrepreneurship and
particularly targeting graduates.
Keywords: Graduates, Unemployment, Unemployability, Transformation, Development, Innovation.
1. Introduction
The unemployment rate and the disappearance of certain jobs in the Kenyan work place is a major concern that
needs urgent attention, specifically, educators are asked to respond to the question What does it feel like to
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produce graduates whose employment is not guaranteed? (Amimo, 2012:52). The graduate labour market has
changed considerably. There are more and more university graduates experiencing difficulties in entering the
graduate labour market. In Kenya, an environment of radical uncertainty and complexity in the job market has
arisen, that both brings about changes and calls for changes. The greatest challenge for graduates in this new era
will be to develop themselves to become employable. The new world of work requires new skills such as
negotiating, networking, problem solving, and skills to manage process rather than functional skills (Harvey,
Moon, & Geall, 2009). Employability is the propensity of graduates to secure a job and progress in their career,
it is not just about getting a job, it is about developing attributes, techniques, or experience for life (Harvey,
2005: 13). A university ought therefore, to offer a wide range of studies so that students, even if they dont
pursue every subject available to them, gain by living among their peers (Oloo, n.d.)
Records in the Ministry of Youth and Sports show that there are only 125,000 young people (18-35years)
registered with formal employment nationwide, among Kenyas population of nearly 40 million: and the
majority are graduates (Amimo, 2012:52). This study is critical because unemployment rate is a key
macroeconomic indicator, with low unemployment rate taken to indicate a healthy economy; unemployment
represents a waste of resources since unused labour could be used to increase output growth; unemployment is
associated with economic hardships such as loss of income and reduced chances of future employment for
individuals and families; and finally, unemployment is linked to various social problems such as criminal
activity, drug addiction, psychological disorders and loss of self-confidence (KIPPRA, 2009: 2).
Universities are supposed to impart high level skills to a reasonable proportion of the workforce, developing
intellectual capability of individuals and responsible professionals needed virtually in all spheres of human
endeavours. They are expected to function to contribute to national development through high level relevant
manpower training. Any university seeking relevance today in our country must produce graduates who would
employ people rather than searching for employment. Career choice requires the construction of a new identity
that is dependent on a persons social interactions and the environment where such interaction takes place
(Kaufman & Feldman, 2004).
Some of the main challenges facing universities are lack of funding for research, obsolete facilities and
technology, lack of concentration of the lecturers and lack of the necessary life skills outside the academic
discourse. Others are problems of access versus equity issues which are characterized by gender, regional,
ethnic, and social disparities and inequalities, which should be addressed in expanding higher education,
especially in the face of devolved governance. There is also the challenge of attracting, rewarding and retaining
staff, and the likely effects on the production of quality graduates. Universities have been seen as key instrument
for national development, giving rise to the notion of the developmental university. The collapse of many
national economies in Africa and the accompanying destabilisation of social structures threw all institutions,
including those of higher education, into a prolonged crisis.
The principal contribution of a university to society turns on the quality of the knowledge it generates and
imparts; the habits of critical thought and problem-solving it institutionalises and inculcates in its graduates
(Sawyerr, 2004:5). The main challenge is how to increase access to higher education to cater for the increasing
high number of school leavers and others who desire tertiary education (university), while maintaining quality
and ensuring equity and affordability (Kinyanjui, 2007). Adebisi, Adebisi and Arogundade (n.d) have diagnosed
in detail what they call academic corruption and how this impacts on un-employability of graduates. It centres
on students, lecturers, government officials and the institutions in Nigeria. This is not unique to that country and
there are lesson herein for universities in Africa. Amimo (2012: 53) attributes the biggest challenge to graduate
employability in Kenya to todays pedagogical practices at our universities which she observes are short of
these much needed skills. They rather focus on associative reasoning (reasoning that is resonated) with its lack
of originality and creativity, which is a serious handicap to skill development.
Oloo (n.d) has indicated that University education in Kenya, working within a globalised world is therefore,
called upon to examine these challenges in order to come up with ways which will engineer training of
graduates for a broader economic, political, recreational and cultural development. The implication for
embedding employability into real teaching and learning in higher education is not simple. The requirements of
employers sometimes seem to be at odds with those of academia. Closer analysis of what employers are looking
for reveals congruity between the abilities developed in higher education and those desired by employers
(Harvey, 2005: 23). This therefore, leads us to the big question in this study, whether the Universities are really
working towards having the graduates employed or is the market graduating the employment demands to a level
the universities cant cope with, leading to the rising cases of graduate un-employability in Africa?
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High unemployment remains one of the greatest challenges to Africas development and hence a major concern
to policy makers and other stakeholders in Africa (KIPPRA, 2009:1). The economic growth rate has not been
sufficient to create enough employment opportunities to absorb the increasing labour force of about 500,000
annually. Only about 25% of youth are absorbed, leaving 75% to bear the burden of unemployment.
Furthermore, some of those absorbed in the labour market have jobs that do not match their qualifications and
personal development goals (MOYAS, 2006: 3). With an average growth projection of 8.2 per cent, the total job
generation for 2008 2012 was expected to reach 3.7 million in 2012 from about 1.8 million in 2004,
translating to an average of 740, 000 new jobs in each year as is captured on the table of employment
projections, 2008 2012 (Kenya, 2008: 14)
[Table 1]
In 2005/2006, the open unemployment rate among the youth ages 15 24 as estimated by the Kenya National
Bureau of Statistics, was 24% compared to an overall open unemployment rate of 12.7%. Open unemployment
rate in urban areas at 19.9% is more than double that in rural areas; and the rate in Rift Valley Province at 23.9%
was the highest among Provinces (KIPPRA, 2009:v). The Report goes ahead to indicate that The most frequent
explanations of the causes of unemployment in Kenya include: rapid population growth, poor dissemination of
labour market information, skills mismatch, structural reforms, slow or declining economic growth, and high
costs of labour (ibid., p.v).
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Enrolment in primary school totaled 7.2 million in 2003 for children aged 6-13 years. Secondary school
enrolment, by 2002, totaled 847,287 while university student were estimated to be 63,941 students in the
2002/03 academic year. Enrollment in private accredited and private unaccredited universities totaled 10,310 of
which 5,354 (51.9%) are females (MOYAS, 2006: 1).
In 2005/06, overall unemployment was 12.7 per cent with urban and rural areas having unemployment rates of
19.9 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively (KNBS, 2007). 57 percent of women and 86 percent of men age 1549 are categorised as currently employed. The proportion of women currently employed increases with age up to
44 years and then declines slightly for those in the 45-49 age group (KNBS & ICF Macro, 2010: 38). Data from
the annual Economic Surveys show that formal sector employment growth has been sluggish. It rose by 1.2 per
cent between 1998 and 2001. The estimated increase for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 are 2.2 per
cent, 2.6 per cent, 3.6 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively. Public sector
employment declined by 7.4 per cent from 1998 to 2002 due to public sector reforms but recorded marginal
growth of 0.3 per cent between 2002 and 2004. On the other hand, informal sector employment increased by 10
per cent between 1998 and 2002 and 6.4 per cent between 2002 and 2005 (KIPPRA, 2009:2).
[Figure 1]
With regard to employment, the target for total job creation in 2008 was 425, 000. Actual employment creation
was 467, 300 which was above the target by 42, 300. Out of the 467, 300 new jobs created in 2008, the bulk,
433, 500 were in the informal sector, 33, 700 were in wage employees in modern establishments and 100 were
self employed (Kenya, 2010:11).
[Table 2]
It is interesting to note, however, that the 2008 figure was down from the 2007 baseline figure of 485, 500. The
slowdown in employment creation continued in 2009 with 445, 900 new jobs being created compared to the
MTP target of 787, 000 new jobs (Kenya, 2011: 17). It is clear that the economy has not been able to create the
desired number of jobs. While the target for employment creation was missed by 38.4 per cent in 2008, this gap
increased by about five percentage points to 43.3 per cent in 2009 (ibid., p. 46).
The country has been unable to meet the MTP 2008 2009 targets in the past three years. In the financial year
2010/2011, 503, 500 new jobs were generated both in the formal and informal sectors as compared to a total of
502, 900 jobs created in 2009. The formal sector generated 62, 600 new jobs in 2010 compared to 56, 300 jobs
created in 2009 representing a 12.4 per cent of total jobs generated (Kenya, 2012: 23). It is also interesting to
note that the informal sector, which represented 80.6 per cent of the total employment, generated an additional
440, 900 jobs. In sum, the total employment growth for the year 2010/2011 was 3.0 per cent in the formal sector
as compared to 5.3 per cent in the informal sector (Ibid., p. 23)
[Table 3] [Table 4] [Table 5] [Table 6]
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The opportunity costs and losses arising from unemployed and underemployed young people have, and will
continue to exert, tremendous impacts on society if these problems are not addressed in time. The inability to
find decent work enhances a sense of vulnerability and inadequacy among youths, which can lead to other social
ills and conflicts UNESCO (2006:1). The growing incidence of graduate unemployment in the face of acute skill
shortages presents a paradox which further complicates the analysis of labour market distortions (Bassey &
Atan, 2012:68). This phenomenon of unemployment has made Obadan and Odusola (2003) to make the
following observation in relation to productivity:
The need to avert the negative effects of unemployment has made the tackling of unemployment problems to
feature very prominently in the development objectives of many developing countries. Incidentally, most of these
countries' economies are also characterized by low productivity. Thus, it seems obvious to many policy makers
that there must be a straight forward connection between productivity and employment/unemployment (Obadan
and Odusola, 2003:1).
In all modern economies, universities are places where specialized human resources are developed. Therefore,
they play a crucial role in generating human capacities for leadership, management and the technical expertise
(Bassey & Atan, 2012: 69). Among the reasons adduced for the quality deterioration in university education are
incessant strikes, lack of employee motivation, weak accountability for educational performance, shortage of
staff, corruption and admissions based on quotas rather than merit (Saint, Hartnett & Strassner, 2003).
According to Bassey and Atan (2012: 7475), the large numbers of unemployed graduates and the low
productivity of those who find work reflect poor social return on the investment. The tragedy is that while the
causes of low quality of university education and its consequences are widely acknowledged, there are no
mechanisms in place to correct them.
Mismatch in labour market demand and supply There is a general lack of appropriate skills and knowledge
among new recruits in the workplace. To compound this, there is a perception that the technical and ICT skills
learned in schools are outdated and do not match the state-of-the-art technologies in use at the workplace. This
has been a problem mainly with students of Computer Sciences and also Engineering courses. This has forced
students to do other courses like Microsoft Certification on top of their University Degrees in Computer Studies
to make them be relevant to the workplace or rather be accepted by employers. Most employers perceive the
engineering students to have been taught mainly theoretical work and dont have the hands-on in the practical
aspects which is critical. Another challenge is that most are only taught fabrication and repairs of machinery
from the developed countries, which by the way, become obsolete by the time they reach Africa.
Inadequate labour market information One reason for the mismatch between demand and supply lies in the
lack of appropriate and updated labour market information. As mentioned earlier, there also appears to be a
discrepancy between labour market demand and supply. The Universities do not have a comprehensive database
of what the market demands so as to gauge students admissions to the market demands. What has been
happening is a case of the golden rush, for example when there is demand for scientists, the emphasis is
centred on this to the detriment of the humanities. When everyone goes for the sciences, there comes a tragedy
when the country needs teachers for humanities as happened in Kenya in the recent past when there were few (if
any) students graduating to teach subjects like English, History, Religious Studies and even Social Education
and Ethics. Currently, these are selling like hot cake in Kenya.
Discrepancies between Graduate expectations versus market reality A major element pointed out by many
employers is the unrealistic expectations and demands of young employees, especially given their lack of
experience and skills.
Lack of work experience - In general, the divide between school and the world of work is imposed upon
students by the educational systems, in conformation to policies and pedagogical approaches in each country.
Similarly, social and cultural norms play a role in whether young people are exposed to work environments.
Lack of life skills training Another common complaint with the graduates that make them not appealing to the
employers is that of the lack of skills and experiences of the young people. Curricular contents in educational
institutions stress core competencies in reading, writing and arithmetic and core subjects. Life skills such as
social skills, interpersonal relationships, motivation, critical thinking, communication, creativity, language skills
and so on are usually not taught within the formal setting of the school system, yet these are really valued and
are at the centre stage during interviews.
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Egerton University has come up with the Agricultural Innovations Capacity of Graduates programme (Egerton
University, 2012) which is a regional project aimed at building capacity of African University Graduates to
foster change through Agricultural Innovations. It is coordinated by the Regional Universities Forum for
Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). The implementing partners are regional and international
Universities and research institutes in the field of agriculture. It stresses on the need for the universities to be
innovative of perish as opposed to the old adage of publish or perish. The project dubbed Graduate
Opportunities for Innovation and Transformation (GO4IT) aims at contributing to and facilitating agricultural
and rural innovation processes.
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The National Youth Policy provides for among other things, that the private sector, CSOs and the Government
should encourage and promote initiatives from youth groups by providing them with necessary skills (technical
and financial assistance) to build their capacity; Government, CSOs, Private Sector should support and initiate
income generating activities by providing youth friendly micro-finance credit facilities; the Government, CSOs
and other developmental partners should allocate funds specifically for young entrepreneurs; and ultimately
creating awareness on labour laws and workers rights through civic education, especially through campaigns
organized by youth organisations (MOYAS, 2006:7)
Thero Setiloane CEO Business Leadership South Africa Beyond advocacy Business needs to get its
head in the game.
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11.8 Policy on Technical, Industrial and Vocational Education and Training (TIVET)
Promote technological proficiency by training for skills to produce competitive products for the domestic and
international markets. Also develop training systems and mechanisms to facilitative linkages of the informal
sector and standards of skill acquisition with those of the formal technical and vocational system. There is need
to improve access and relevance of education and training provided to the youth with more focus on technical
and vocational skills as well as development of soft skills. This requires the effective implementation of the
Technical Industrial Vocational Education and Training (TIVET) policy.
Awuor Ponge,
Institute of Education (IoE),
University of London
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2010
Variance
319.5
503.5
Actual
Target
823
2009
Years
Variance
341.1
Actual
445.9
Target
787
2008
Actual
2007
Variance
Baseline
295.7
463.3
Target
759
485.5
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Jobs in Thousands
Source: Kenya, Republic of. (2012). Third Annual Progress Report (APR) on the Implementation of the First
Medium Term Plan (2008 2012) of Kenya Vision 2030. (pg. 56)
Table 2 : Targeted and Actual Employment levels 2008/2009 2011/2012
FY 2008/2009
FY 2009/2010
FY 2010/2011
FY 2011/
2012
Actual
0.12
10
503.5
904
Implementation of the First
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