Youth Unemployment as a Serious Policy Problem in Sub-Saharan Africa - Case Study Example

Name Course Instructor Date Table of Contents Introduction 3 Problem Being Addressed 4 Situational Analysis 5 Population and Labor Force 6 The Goal and Objectives of the Employment Policy 6 Policy Development Process 7 Key Policy Issues 9 Labor Externalization 10 Employment of vulnerable people and practice of gender equity 11 Youth employment promotion 12 The policy’s implementation and institutional framework 13 Policy implementation 13 Labour ministry’s responsibilities 14 Finance, Planning and Economic Development ministry’s responsibilities 14 Education and Sports ministry’s responsibilities 15 Uganda bureau of statistics’ responsibilities 15 The National Authority’s responsibilities 15 Local governments’ responsibilities 15 Employers and employees’ organization responsibilities 16 Civil society organizations’ responsibilities 16 Policy’s coordination mechanism 16 Policy monitoring and evaluation 17 Potential implementation challenges 17 Financing the policy 18 Assessment of Policy Outcomes To Date 18 Conclusion 19 Works cited 19 Introduction Youth unemployment has been a serious policy problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Uganda. Employment creation is vital to the growth of the national socio-economy. It is the most significant aspect in the transformation of Uganda from a poor agricultural economy to a modern, flourishing, and skillful nation ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 3). The Ugandan constitution emphasizes on the vitality of employment and the constitutional provision on employment is supported in the National goal of changing Uganda to a modern and flourishing country in the next three decades. Also, the goals of the National Development Plan reflect on improvement of employment availability and quality of beneficial employment. The Ugandan government is aiming at translating these aspirations into reality. The country’s economy is estimated to have grown at a rate of around 6.5% in the last 20 years. The high population growth constrains the government’s capacity for provision of sufficient employment. In addition to this, the country has experienced low levels of investments in the recent years. Though Uganda has had an increment in the GDP, the distribution framework of the labor force has remained constant and here has been slight increment in dependence of the agricultural sector. The level of labor force in the industrial sector has remained low and this is attributed to various factors which include lack of the desired skilled for various industrial occupations (Lawson and John 1227). There is high growth rate in the Ugandan labor force but the sectors are unable to absorb wholly. This paper seeks to address the Uganda employment policy which has been implemented in the recent past. The paper will discuss the problem situation being addressed, the policy development process, policy goals and objectives, and the factors influencing the policy’s performance. Problem Being Addressed Unemployment is one of the major challenges in Uganda. The level of unemployment in this country has grown from 1.9 in 2003 to 3.6 in 2010. The actuality of the problem at community level is extensively severe than what is portrayed in the figures. Increase in unemployment has led to increment in rural urban migrations, high competition in the labor market, and increment in the idle workforce amongst the youth. The report of the Urban Labor Force survey 2010 demonstrates that the level of unemployment in Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono is 13.3%, which is equivalent to over 120,000 individuals. Uganda is among the nations with the highest population growth rate which has resulted to increase in the labor force. There is high level of undertrained and unskillful people entering the labor force per year but the chances for them being absorbed in the labor market is low (Gough and George 95). The Ugandan labor market experiences significant mismatch between what is offered by the education system and the required skills in the labor market. Both the formal and the informal sectors are extensively restrained by unavailability of resources. The employment and labor services are unevenly distributed in the country and the number of Ugandans living under poverty is still very high. It indicates that the country’s achievement at the macro-economic setting has not translated the same achievement at the micro and domestic level. Amongst the employed Ugandan citizens, poverty is still high and more than 20% live below the poverty line. Availability of appropriate and sustainable employment is the only solution to the issue of poverty in Uganda. Also, the country faces other problems which include insufficient productivity particularly in the Agricultural field. The HIV/AIDS problem has huge consequences on the labor sector. Such impact could have serious consequences such as industrial unrest, and increment in crime rates. Situational Analysis Unemployment is linked to various issues such as poverty. Labor is the only thing the poor people can depend on. If fostered and properly exploited, it can be changed to decent work. Effectual and proper employment is a leading path out of the poverty dilemma. A growing economy that does not lead to creation of decent jobs cannot succeed in poverty elimination. Poverty elimination requires constant macro-economic stability joined to high rates of venture in the creation of novel and productive employment (Bategeka 1). The Ugandan government has executed structural reforms since 1987 focused on achieving economic development at a rate of over 7% per annum and at the same time minimizing poverty rate by over 10% in 2010. The current average economic growth rate of Uganda is around 6.5% per year ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 7). Though there has a reduction of unemployment levels from 56% in 1992 to 24.5 in 20110, majority of the Ugandans work in low productivity sectors and the poverty level remains a significant issue. Majority of the poor individuals are uneducated and lack the opportunity to access productive facilities such as land and capital. The Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Program (UPPAP) reported in the year 2003that poverty was linked to unavailability of employment opportunities, inadequate wages for the employed and insecurity of income amongst those in private sectors. Considering a report on Labor Market Conditions, Ugandans working in un-productive sectors account for 21% of the overall population. Despite Government attempts to reduce poverty levels, majority of the Ugandan population is living in extreme poverty. According to reports, 7.5 million Ugandans are living in poor conditions ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 9). This demonstrates that Ugandan’s achievement in the macroeconomic front is irregular and such achievement has not been gotten at micro and domestic levels. Addressing the issue of unemployment and underemployment are among the key solutions for poverty reduction in this country. Population and Labor Force The Population and Housing Census indicated that the Ugandan population was around 25.3 million with a growth rate of 3.2% every year. By the year 2010, the population was estimated to hit 31.8 million and 100 million by 2050. The population is principally young with children and the youth constituting over 75% of the overall population. Individuals above 18 years compose around 56% of the total population. The population of the youth was expected to hike to 8.5 million by the end of 2015. Recent reports indicate that the labor force rose to over13 million in 2010 from around 10.9 in the year 2006 which represents a labor force growth rate of 4.9% per year. This trend has a counter effect of the rate of the youth that join the labor force per annum which estimated to be 6 %. The fertility rate of Uganda is extremely high which accounts for the high level of entrants in the labor force (Kijima and Takashi 460). Females account for around 50% of the labor force and more than half of the actual population is in the labor force 83% of the existing labor force is rural. The Goal and Objectives of the Employment Policy The Employment Policy addresses one of the most crucial issues facing Uganda. It aims at addressing the issue of complete employment together with proper work and unbiased economic advancement. Reasonable growth rate of stable jobs in private sectors is the most fruitful way of poverty eradication in the country. Therefore, the key goal of the policy is to generate adequate efficient and stable jobs for Ugandan citizens. The vision of the policy is fruitful and stable employment for improved livelihoods of the Ugandan citizens. The role of this policy is to direct stakeholders on development and improvement of the quality of employment and availability of productive jobs. The objectives include promotion of macro-economic policies and investment stratagems for creation of job opportunities, promotion of attainment of desired work skills through training and internships, promotion of protection of the rights and desires of workers according to the provisions of the presented laws. Policy Development Process The development of the Ugandan policy included various steps which are utilized for other policy developments in the country. The first step in the policy development includes the appointing of authorized individuals who regulate activities in during policy development. The process may take a few months. The identification and appointing of the right committee members because they are the drivers of the policy making process. The country’s government gave the ministry of Gender, Labor and Socio Development to establish a policy that would address the problem of unemployment so as to play role in the millennium ambition of poverty elimination. Gabriel Opiyo was the corresponding minister at the time of development of this policy. The next step in policy development is the identification of the problem or a matter of distress. The Ministry recognized the unemployment issue and the matters that oblige the formation of the Employment policy. Other policies would have been modified to meet the needs outlined in the Employment policy. However, development of this policy was believed to have the capacity to address numerous issues and it has basis on major key Government policies such as the National Vision of 2025 and the National Constitution. The Employment policy procedure was outlined, in which various activities were to follow. Also, individual responsibilities of various individuals were established. The policy was drafted and presented to the ministry of Gender, Labor, and Socio Development ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 15). Research was conducted in sections of employment creation in different sectors. During the research, policy documentations from different institutions and countries were exploited. Various national policies were read to identify major relation with current policies and the most affected. The next step is the development of the policy discussion paper. The role of this document is to present details to the public on the nature of the issue and to provide a summary of the information acquired from different sources. There is development of policy arguments which include claims, merits, and support. This document plays a significant role in the consultation process. The next stage is the consultation process which was carried out by several stakeholders who included other Ministries, organizations, local governments, labor unions, and agencies. A draft was published to the key stakeholders so as to participate in clarification and modifications before adoption. After the above processes were finalized, the policy undergoes an official adoption by the administration and it is put into record. The National Employment policy of Uganda was adopted in April 2013. The policy was communicated to all the involved stakeholders indicating the expectations from its implementation. Capacity building was suggested as a key aspect in the achievement of the goal of the policy. Key Policy Issues Various key policy issues of the Ugandan Employment policy include improvement of the informal sector, promotion of agriculture, skill development, employment growth, and development of rural employment. For employment growth, the Ugandan government is committed, to transform the socio-economy of the country (Dambisya and Sheill 61). This commitment will ensure development of employment opportunities and various strategies are in place. These strategies include setting targets for employment creation for both and constant monitoring and assessment using the policy objectives, supporting current or novel labor-intensive projects with stable employment provisions, and making of employment creation a vital issue compared to other development projects. The policy recognizes that labor market information is significant as it enables monitoring of the employment state, trends, and the framework of the appropriate amendments on the policy ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 21). To achieve this, the policy strengthens the Labor ministry so as to track the employment register. Also, the policy presents guidelines on data collection so as to assess the effect of various enterprises on employment. For skill development and training, te government recognizes that skilful and trained labor force is vital in the process of eliminating unemployment in Uganda. Skilled labor force improves productivity, competition, and venture growth. The Ugandan government provides incentives to private investors so that they can offer in-employment training strategies and internships. For promotion of agriculture and rural development, the government recognizes that agriculture is at the moment the hugest employer and has the potential to absorb more workers in the rural regions. The National Development policy enhances infrastructure development in rural regions so as to facilitate productivity in the agriculture sector. Finally, apart from agricultural sector small scale and non-agricultural enterprises are the second highest employer in Uganda. Majority of these sectors are characterized by few investments, low technology use, and low efficacy. The government recognizes the role of these sectors and focuses on improving its efficacy and employment potential. The government promotes forward and backward links between large scale and small scale enterprises. Also, it develops groups to meet supply-chain demands as a significant strategy for the small enterprises for the poor artisans. Labor Externalization The government ascertains that the global labour market is efficient for providing short-term employment opportunities to Ugandans. As it does so, the government is focussed on creating more domestic-based job opportunities. It is however important to note that as Uganda exports its labour, there is probable increase in the rate of domestic unemployment due to ‘free movement’ migration. Free movement migration is associated with jurisprudences of East African Community (EAC). The jurisprudences allow East Africans to work with limited restrictions in any EAC member country. With such prospects the government aims at adopting various countermeasure startegies. They include, first, strengthening the labour ministry to ensure it is capable of outsourcing external job opportunities for Ugandans. In doing so, the ministry shall ensure that the external employers respect the living and labour rights of Ugandans. Also, the government shall establish bilateral treaties with countries that host the external employers. Thereafter, it shall strengthen ministerial departments that deal with employment services. By doing so, the departments shall have the mandate to monitor, regulate, coordinate and guide the activities of external employers. In addition, the government shall allocate revolving funds that will aid Ugandans in securing external employment opportunities. Finally, the government shall develop jurisprudences that govern licensed private agencies in securing external employment opportunities. Employment of vulnerable people and practice of gender equity The government is well aware of the predicaments that face vulnerable groups when it comes to employment. Such groups include women, the disabled and aged people. As such, it is necessary to address their employment concerns, in order to eradicate poverty and develop the country’s economy. In this regard, the government plans to implement various startegies. These strategies include firstly, promoting the attainment and analysis of prevailing labour statistics. Thereafter, the government shall disaggregate the country’s job opportunities with respect to age, social sector, family wealth, gender, educational qualifications and disability state. Secondly, the government shall strictly implement the Gender Policy Act of 2007. This Act shall allow men and women to access education and employment opportunities equally. Thirdly, the government shall implement the Persons with Disability National Policy Act of 2007. This Act shall provide disabled people with training, ability enhancement programs and recruitment opportunities. Fourthly, the government shall design programs that acknowledge the existence of vulnerable groups. As such, the programs shall provide beneficial opportunities to the identified vulnerable groups ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 25). Fifthly, the government shall include vulnerable groups in the country’s decision making process. By doing so, the government shall expose the vulnerable groups to methodologies that shall develop their skills. Sixthly, the government shall conduct a public awareness on the issues that affect people with disabilities or sero-positive individuals, followed by collaborating with employers’ institutions to coax such institutions into employing people with disabilities. Finally, the government shall provide tax incentives to the private sector. By providing tax incentives, the private sectors shall comply with the government’s order of employing disabled people. Youth employment promotion The government is also aware of the high rate of youth unemployment in the country. It is important to note that youths constitute a large percentage of Uganda’s population. This implies that the youth represent the country’s main source of labour force. As such, the youths are entitled to specific needs such as positive development, discipline upbringing, Profession guidance, and skills impartment, among others. These needs ensure that the youths are oriented to meet the expectations of the employment market and create their own employment opportunities. That is why the government shall enact the National Action Plan for Youth Employment (Creese and Brandy 60).The implementation of the plan shall accrue various benefits to the youths. These benefits shall include first, provision of support to the youths, especially young women. The support shall aid the young women to shift from casual to official employment. The shift shall occur due to access of young women to education, training and micro-finance loans. Second, the government shall strengthen the career guidance capacity to expose youths to practical and technical training. Third, the government shall reduce entrepreneurial tax to encourage youths to open enterprises. Fourth, the government shall integrate youths in National Youth programmes to increase their skills and experience. Alternatively, it shall increase the youths’ skills by promoting voluntary work and organizational internships. Fifth, the government shall promote the formation of youth cooperatives and organizations. By doing so, it shall allow youths to form entrepreneurial business. In addition, it shall establish national centers that will provide youths appropriate entrepreneurial investment advice. Finally, the government shall provide youths’ technical skills by strengthening the regional technical institutes through rapid staffing, renovating and retooling. The policy’s implementation and institutional framework The government shall herald the implementation of the policy with coordinated assistance from specific parties that include private sector organizations, non-governmental organizations, labour organizations and independent individuals, among other parties. In this context, the government shall assemble necessary resources, amass domestic and global efforts, and establish clear channels to increase the ‘work-ability’ of the policy (Harasty 1). Alternatively, the government shall increase the policy’s public awareness and enact necessary legislation that governs the policy’s application. In this case, the legislation shall influence the government employability initiatives. The initiatives shall involve showing other employers to follow the policy’s directives. It shall do so by attending to concerns of labour unions, establishing a safe working environment, providing continuous organizational training and establishing employment equality. Policy implementation The government-established labour ministry shall herald the policy’s implementation approach. It shall involve other parties that define the country’s employment orientation. Such parties shall include the National Planning Authority and other governmental ministries. The inclusion of the above-mentioned parties shall ensure that employment matters are integrated in implementation of programmes associated with National Core projects of National Development Plans. For instance, the integration shall establish a National Programmes’ five-year multi-sectorial employment Action. The Action shall cover specific sector-oriented actions, employment generation tactics and frameworks, National Programme Action implementation inputs, identified stakeholders’ responsibilities, and targeted occupational and industrial sectors. The covering shall ensure effective implementation of the policy. Labour ministry’s responsibilities The labour ministry shall single-handedly conduct various responsibilities. The responsibilities shall include the development of employment action programme and providence of directives that integrate employment issues in other plans, policies and programmes. Also, it shall ensure there is timely availability of quality information on labour markets. In doing so, it shall establish comprehensive current classifications systems. The classification systems shall detail real-time information that concerns Industrial Standard Classification and National Occupational Classification. Alternatively, the ministry shall build and provide supervised support to the district advisory staff, encourage the development of social assistance-based national strategic startegies, provide workers’ social protection, and encourage dialogue-oriented collaboration with social stakeholders. Finance, Planning and Economic Development ministry’s responsibilities The ministry shall undertake the role of ensuring that national socioeconomic policies prioritize the issue of fruitful employment. It shall do so by availing employment-oriented financial resources, attracting employment-oriented investments, and finally, creating employment opportunities by offering incentives to prospective investors. Education and Sports ministry’s responsibilities The ministry shall provide quality training that provides necessary career competencies. The career competencies shall allow the learner to get a self or paid employment opportunity. The ministry shall ensure that the training is accessible to every individual gender. Uganda bureau of statistics’ responsibilities The bureau’s main focus is on collecting, disseminating, analyzing and interpreting the country’s statistics. In this case, the bureau shall coordinate with the labor ministry and other government ministries. The coordination shall establish real-time accessibility to quality information that regards to employment and labor statistics. The labor ministry shall use the inquiries established by the bureau’s survey in expanding its scope of responsibilities ("THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA” 28). The National Authority’s responsibilities The authority’s mandate is to plan the country’s processes. In this regard, it shall ensure the incorporation of employment issues in the country’s national and sectorial development strategies. Also, it shall ensure that public and private sectors support the implementation of employment policy. After the implementation, the authority shall assess the support of each sector and determine the support’s effect on the economy. Local governments’ responsibilities The local governments shall organize the recruitment of employment officers; promote local infrastructural constructions and maintenances; collect, process and assess information that pertains to labour market; assemble district-based resources, and create frameworks that strategize and coordinate employment-related issues (Ahebwa and Chris 377). Finally, other associated ministries shall integrate employment concerns in their strategic plans, projects and policies. Employers and employees’ organization responsibilities Uganda’s Employers’ Federation and workers’ labour unions shall collaborate with the labour ministry to implement the policy effectively. Their collaboration shall influence every member of the organizations to recognize and support the implementation of the policy. Civil society organizations’ responsibilities Civil societies play an important role of supporting activities that generate income and employment opportunities. In this case, the civil societies shall support research, build service capacity, advocate for employees, provide legal assistance and offer counselling services. Policy’s coordination mechanism The government shall create a National Council of Employment that coordinates, directs, aligns and assesses the policy implementation efforts. Members of such council shall include Chief Executive Officer, Chairperson and Secretariat drawn from specific ministries. The ministries shall include Finance, Planning and Economic Development; Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; Public Service, Works and Transport; Local Governments; Tourism, Trade and Industry; Education and Sports; Foreign Affairs; Internal Affairs and Immigration Department; Health; Land, Housing and Urban Development; Energy and Mineral Development; East African Community, and Information Communication and Technology. Other viable authorities shall include Uganda Investment Authority, the National planning Authority, Enterprise Uganda (Ltd), the National organization of Trade Union (NOTU), The Bureau of Statistics, The Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE), and The Central Organization of Free Trade Unions (COFU). Policy monitoring and evaluation The government shall monitor stepwise implementation and impact of the policy using appropriated measures. The monitoring shall involve specific government ministries and associated organizations (Blattman and Sebastian 1). In addition, the government shall review the policy after every five years to assess performance and deal with arising challenges. Potential implementation challenges The policy’s productive implementation shall rely on the effective removal of challenges. The challenges shall include, first, ensuring that all concerned parties play their specific role in creating employment opportunities; ensuring that all resources are concentrated on influencing all sectors to include employment framework in their strategies, projects and policies, and finally, ensuring that all concerned parties are involved in appropriating mechanisms that predispose the creation of fruitful job opportunities in the country. Second, the government shall address the administration weaknesses by creating an infrastructure that supports the implementation of the policy at local and national levels (Blattman and Sebastian 1). In this regard, the infrastructure shall strengthen and coordinate the policy’s guidelines on recruitment, staff retooling and maintenance of labour standards. Third, the government shall accrue adequate financial resources that support the implementation of the policy at local and national levels. Fourth, the government shall synergize all policies. By synergizing the policies, the government shall create a central focal point of ensuring that all policies contribute to the creation of productive jobs, eradication of poverty and promotion of mutual prosperity. Finally, the government shall increase public awareness on the policy’s benefits to prevent negative attitudes. It is important to note that negative attitudes characterize the resistance to organizational change. Therefore, the government shall establish centres that deal with people’s concerns that predispose the development of negative attitudes. Financing the policy Since the implementation of the policy requires coordination of various specific parties, the involved parties shall fund its specified policy implementation responsibility. The funding shall depend on the budgetary funds allocated by the government for the policy implementation process ("Uganda Government Launches National” 1). Assessment of Policy Outcomes To Date The country is experiencing notable reduction in poverty levels since the execution of the employment policy. There has been a structural improvement in the national economies with a rise in the country’s GDP, a contribution by the informal sector. The numbers of informal jobs that are characterized by low productivity, low wages, lack of accessibility to vital rights, and poor working conditions have reduced in the country (Thirumurthy 1). Despite the increase in the levels of employment in the country, majority of the individuals still work in sectors of low productivity and low wages. Offering adequate training to the workforce will improve productivity since majority of the firms will be operating at higher levels. Conclusion The descriptive analysis of the National Employment policy shows that regardless of the productive economy, the government is aware of the high rate of unemployment and poverty. In this regard, the policy provides a strategic framework that intends to solve the unemployment issues. Supported by other policies and anchored in imperative governmental programs such as the 2025 national Vision, the National Constitution, the Millennium Development Goals and the National Development Plan, the policy acknowledges the necessity of involving various parties in creation of productive job opportunities. As such, the policy influences the public and private sectors to create job opportunities. Works cited "THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA THE NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT POLICY FOR UGANDA." Web. 17 Mar. 2015. . "Uganda Government Launches National Employment Policy ..." 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