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 Skills possessed by entry-level employees
Employees in the formal and informal sectors possessed life skills , core values , social-emotional skills , technical skills , basic computing skills , and literacy skills . Moreover , the skill supply across the top industries employing the most youth is skewed towards certain industries . However , there is congruence between skills demanded and skills possessed by youth across each of the key industries of the economy , with employers demanding more soft skills than technical skills .
Skill Gaps & Mismatches From an employee and an employers ’ perspective , among the skills lacked in both the formal and informal sectors were marketing and sales , technical skills , financial planning and management , life skills , and entrepreneurship .
Specific to sectors , employees in Education had inadequate literacy skills , those in the Financial & Insurance activities lacked technical and financial planning and management skills , while entrepreneurship skills were lacking in both Wholesale & Retail and Accommodation & Food Services . Marketing and sales , core values , life skills , numeracy , basic computing , and socialemotional skills were lacking across all the industries . Life skills and technical skills are at the intersection showing that despite entry-level employees possessing these two sets of skills , there is still a high demand for the same .
Addressing skill gaps and mismatches Most self-employed youths ( 44 %) reported that they had addressed various skills gaps through on the job training . Another 39 % mentioned that they overcame their skills gaps through mentors / coaches , 19 % through external training programs while 20 % had not taken any special measures .
Barriers to youth employment The two main factors preventing the youth from acquiring jobs were corruption and lack of required experience by employers among others . Self-employed youth cited lack of capital , lack of required experience , and corruption as the top three barriers to starting their businesses .
Policy Relevance and Potential Impact of the Synthesis Kenya ’ s economy is predominantly driven by the service industry ; skills of a technical nature are less demanded . There is a high demand for marketing and sales skills in the labour market . The gap between the skills possessed by youth entering the workforce and the job market has widened due to the growing dominance of the service industry . Manufacturing jobs for the future will demand social and emotional skills as well as cognitive capacity , in addition to technical and technology-based