THE YOUTH BULGE, A CHALLENGE WE CANNOT IGNORE

Outside Johannesburg in the town of Germiston is the Ekurheleni East College (EEC), a modest campus that serves as part of a pilot project to head off South Africa’s looming disaster.

The technical and vocational training institution is the beneficiary of an African Development Bank (AfDB) grant geared at better skilling its students – youth and SMEs for the workplace.

Students at the school learn vocational skills like a metalworking, electrical installation, plumbing and business studies.

"The need is urgent. South African officials estimate that at least six million people – or 30% of the working age population, are unemployed most of whom are youth...

The South African economy, growing at paltry two percent, can’t promise to create enough jobs for its jobless masses. It is hoped that if the pilot one of three, prove successful in getting their graduates employed or open up businesses, they can roll it out across the country and forestall what is widely seen as a ticking time bomb.

Apartheid biased development towards a white minority – South Africa has the widest wealth disparities on the continent, and as a result there are thousands of youth roaming around thinking that they are no better off 25 years after apartheid was dismantled. This frustration has shown itself in the country’s high crime rate and the attacks on foreign workers earlier this year.

A corruption which has almost ground the economy to a halt – they suffer up to 16-hour load shedding on some days, has not helped issues.

It’s the story of the continent – without the apartheid hangover, but in contexts that are no less daunting.

In Uganda more than 80% of the population is under the age of 35. According to 2016/17 Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), 13.3% of Ugandans between the age of 18 – 30 are unemployed. Other numbers have varied more wildly but don’t stand up to anecdotal evidence.

That being said the economy not creating enough jobs in the formal sector to absorb the thousands turning up in the job market every year. So like South Africa practical and entrepreneurial skills will have to be emphasized going forward.

"Conspiring against efforts to create jobs for all by the year 2040 or whatever the number is now, the increasing automation of processes across sectors. Every industry from manufacturing to banking to retail, even garages are looking to employ fewer and fewer people to gain efficiencies and cut costs....

While manufacturing jobs is what drove the industrial revolution in the 20^th century I am afraid it will not have as significant a role in the 20^th century.

New plant and machinery now need fewer workers to do more work. Unlike the workers of the industrial age these new workers need to be better educated than the automatons of the last century too.

That being said there will always be a need for a carpenter, mechanic, plumber especially as we become more urbanized. But even more importantly there is a need for good entrepreneurs who understand not only how to set up businesses but run them sustainably.

This last point is critical. An engineer who leaves university knows the subject inside out but is unable to start and run a firm, that can not only do construction but also employ more and more people and grow. Is it any wonder that after today we have no major indigenous contractors winning major jobs in this infrastructure development boom?

"The biggest companies were first small companies. And for every big company hundreds even thousands have fallen by the wayside. The ones that have survived the natural selection process have done so often because they have been deliberate and systematic in growing their capacity over time... 

In more advanced economies this has happened over generations, here in Uganda maybe over the last three decades, at least.

In addressing the youth unemployment challenge, government needs to recognize that throwing money at the challenge is at best a stop gap measure at worst will see our youth addicted to handouts. 

What government needs to do is improve the environment for doing business – we are 112 out of 189 in the Ease of Doing business rankings, commit more resources to providing vocational and entrepreneurial skills.

If done systematically then even the government handouts will be better utilized in serving the end of job creation.

At Ekurhuleni they don’t stop at graduating technicians, but work with industry – the surrounding industries actually nominate the students to the college, provide internship slots and often high them eventually.

Those who are not so lucky graduate with a toolkit to help them set themselves up in their own communities.

"South African trade ministry officials know it’s a race against time – at the college they are employing a semester system that allows them to train double the students given the facilities. When fully rolled out in a decade or so they intend to be annually passing out at least ten percent of the unemployed youth annually or 600,000 graduates....

We wish them luck. We will all need it.