Need for employability skills for young Africans:
“Employability skills can be defined as the transferable skills that an individual needs to make them ’employable’.” The future economic growth of any nation is determined by the potential abilities of its youth, and not by its capital or material resources. In Africa, the number of highly skilled, skilled but unemployed youth is increasing to become one of the largest populations in the world. “The current trend indicates that this figure will double by 2045,” according to the African Economic Outlook 2012 report prepared by experts from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Economic Commission of the United Nations for Africa (ECA) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of industrialized countries, among others. Youth make up 60% of all Africans who are unemployed, according to the World Bank. In North Africa, the youth unemployment rate is 30%, which is even worse in Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, South Africa and several other countries. South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world (29.8 percent), with approximately 4.5 million unemployed, most of whom are young (2011 Census). According to the African Economic Outlook, “on average, more than 70% of Africa’s youth live on less than US$2 a day, the internationally defined poverty line.” Despite the complex and unclear relationship between education and employment, post-basic education in job skills development programs have been identified as potential solutions for young Africans facing employability challenges. If the skills of young people are accessed for the purpose of empowerment, young people could discover new domains as they find employment.
Impact of Employability Skills on African Youth:
They are extremely important as today’s jobs require people to multitask and these skills develop a broader range of job-specific competencies in people. Education and skills can open the doors to economically and socially rewarding jobs and can lead to the growth of small-scale informal businesses. With the establishment of various government entities and SETA, youth employability opportunities have been enhanced through their skills development process, youth employment challenges will be handled, and economic growth will be promoted through the construction of these skills. Therefore, it is imperative to teach young people employability skills so that they can sustain themselves and progress in an information economy and thus eradicate unemployment and poverty.
In the words of the Prime Minister of Zambia, “youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb”, which now appears dangerously close to exploding, which is why Africa’s educational curricula must include skills and entrepreneurship.
