IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science ( IOSR-JHSS ) Volume 24 , Issue 2 , Ser . 7 ( March . 2021 ) 44-50 e-ISSN : 2279-0837 , p-ISSN : 2279-0845 . www . iosrjournals . org The youth population increase hurts available employment opportunities resulting in inadequate
means of earning a living . Skill gaps can be associated with a lack of accessibility to tertiary education as well as the inability to provide the necessary technical skills needed in the job market . Youth in Kenya are experiencing much higher unemployment rates than the rest of the Kenyan population ( Farah & Ali , 2018 ). In a developing country such as Kenya , the estimated unemployment rates underestimate the enormity of the labor market challenges because a large number of individuals are inactive rather than unemployed , and most of the individuals in employment are engaged in informal jobs ( Nyerere , 2018 ).
Like most of these countries , Kenya is currently faced with the opportunity and challenge ‘ youth bulge ’. Considering the 20 percent benchmark , Kenya has been experiencing a ‘ youth bulge ’ since the mid-1990s , with a peak in the mid-2000s when nearly 22 percent of all Kenyans were between the ages of 15 and 24 years . The latest numbers on the country ’ s population , however , showcase that this ‘ youth bulge ’ is undergoing a slow decline ( only 20 percent youth in 2015 ). However , the absolute number of youth in Kenya continues to increase , from 6.8 million in 2000 to 9.5 million in 2015 . This simply means that the growth rate of this population cohort is now smaller than the adult working-age cohort ( UNDP 2013 ).
The Republic of Kenya is likely currently experiencing its ‘ youth bulge ’ peak , which could either be a demographic dividend , or a disaster ( Chatterjee & Ronneberg , 2017 ): either Kenya will be able to utilize and support its young , aspiring citizens in achieving appropriate education and jobs , which should lead to a prosperous socio-economic future for everyone , or if this chance is missed economic stagnation and a neglected ‘ lost generation ’ will likely jeopardize such future .
According to the majority of the employers ( 42.8 %), lack of soft skills in potential employees is the key factor influencing the skills mismatch problem in Kenya , followed by negative attitudes ( 22.4 %) and lack of technical skills ( 12.6 %) ( CAP- YEI , 2017 ). Kenyan employers prefer to hire staff from TVET institutions ( 33 %), professional colleges ( 30 %), local universities ( 28 %), technical universities ( 22 %), high school leavers ( 21 %), Vocational Training Centres – VTCs ( 21 %) and overseas universities ( 3 %) ( Ondieki , Kahihu & Muthoni , 2019 ).
The East Africa Institute of Aga Khan University conducted the last study , which pitched focus on youth aged 18-30 years , working in formal and informal sectors , including those who are selfemployed . The key question of this study understood the range of capabilities demanded of youth at job entry , those that the youth mostly bring with , and those that have to be built or trained by industry . The study also investigated the utility of skills at work , the opportunities available for continued learning at workplaces , and the readiness of the industry to collaborate with TVET institutions on