Assessment of the factors that influence youth unemployment in Kawempe Division: a case study of the youths in Jinja Kalooli

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the factors that influence youth unemployment in Kawempe division with specific objectives like to examine the demographic factors that influence youth unemployment in Kawempe division and to examine the socio-economic factors that influence youth unemployment in Kawempe. The study covered the areas of Kawempe Jinja kalooli and a sample size of 96 youths was selected. Data was collected using a well-structured questionnaire and respondents were obtained using simple random sampling. Correlation and regression analysis were used to assess the objectives and hypothesis. Results from univariate analysis indicated that majority of the respondents had attained secondary education (53.125%), most respondents were females (57.2917%), most of the parent’s respondents had attained secondary education (45.8333%), majority of the respondents were from central region (66.67%), (78.9% ) dwelled around town, 89.58% of the respondents could borrow. Correlation analysis results indicated that, no education level of the respondent (r=0.14), primary education level of the respondent( r=0.2541*), sex of the respondent (r=0.04)), no education of the parent(r=0.14), primary education level of the parent( r=0.15), youths from the central region (r=0.06), youths from the eastern r=0.03, youths from the west (r= 0.01), hair dressing, knitting and tailoring (r=0.2985*), bakery and catering (r=0.01), school ethics( r=0.01), higher teacher expectations( r=0.05) had a positive relationship with employment status. However, respondents secondary level of education level r= 0.15, respondents higher education level r= 0.12, primary education level of the parent r= 0.15, higher education level of the parent r= 0.15, age of the respondent r=0.08, youths from the northern region r=0.15, number of children in the family r= 0.06, shoe making and carpentry r= 0.09, electric engineering and installation r= 0.07, construction and plumbing r= 0.12, place of residence r= 0.09, positive teacher role models r= 0.07, willingness to borrow (r=-0.03), and how much one can borrow r= 0.14 had a negative relationship with employment status. Multivariate results indicate that there is a slight significant relationship between the predictors and employment status (p0.0543>p0.05). 28.97 % of the employment status is explained by the predictor variables. The study investigated the factor affecting the employment status and only education level of the respondent (primary) and skills like electric installation and engineering, shoe making and carpentry, construction and plumbing had a significant influence of employment status and others variables such as age, sex, region, place of residence, ability to borrow money, education level of the parent and family size had no significant relationship with employment status. The study recommended that more credit finance institution should teach youth the importance of borrowing and how to use money to reduce unemployment rate. Further research should be carried out to investigate the COVID effect on the employment status of the youth in Kampala.