An investigation of the determinants of youth unemployment in Uganda

Abstract

The objective of the study was to investigate the determinants of youth unemployment in Kakumiro town council, Bugangaizi west county, Kakumiro district, mid-western Uganda. The research mainly targetedthe youth in this area. Assessment was made on the level of employment, level of education, level of entrepreneurship, effectiveness of operation wealth creation and contribution of private enterprises in curbing youth unemployment using both primary and secondary data sourced from Kakumiro town council in Bugangaizi west county, Kakumiro district. A sample of 96 respondents was undertaken. The analysis was made at three levels that is, frequency distribution and summary of statistics, bivariate analysis and use of multivariate regression. The results showed that majority of the respondents were males. At least each respondent had ever acquired a given level of education and had knowledge on operation wealth creation government program however, most of the respondents (44%) said that the program had no impact in reducing youth unemployment, the number of unemployed was slightly higher than the employed individuals. At bivariate level, the research shows that there is a significantrelation youth unemployment and level of education, business ownership, time spent on job at 5% level of significance whereas gender, impact of wealth creation were not significantly related (P>0.05). At a multivariate, youth unemployment is significantly explained by level of education. (P<0.05) In conclusion,three hypotheses were rejected implying that there is a positive relationship between youth unemployment with these explanatory variables. These included levels of education, entrepreneurship skills and contribution of private enterprises. These explanatory factors significantly determine youth unemployment. The study recommends government to fund private technical and vocation training institutions to enable them deliver the necessary education that produces manpower with hand on skills, higher institutions of learning should be provided and at a subsidized cost