Some 76 percent of workers in Africa Sub-Saharan Africa regions have low skills hence low quality jobs, according to a new report released by Microsoft Corporation yesterday.
The study, conducted on behalf of the International Youth Foundation (IYF), further revealed that the youth are most affected as they live on less than US$ 2 a day with 72 percent of them forced to work long hours to earn a living.
According to IYF, the global youth population is 1.2 billion, the largest in history and growing over time with the risks of widening in future . Each year more than 2.2 million youth, most of them semi skilled, join the regional labour market with limited employment opportunities. In the end, majority of them end up working in informal sectors with low pay.
However changes can be made, according to Benson Masero, Program Officer at the African Centre for Women Information and Communications Technology, a partnership firm with IYF.
“We need to support the development of private-sector, to offer well paying jobs by coming up with education programmes in Information Communication and Technology(ICT) and other skills to make youths more marketable,” Masero said.
The necessary skills will help the youth come out of unemployment and low paying jobs. Although unemployment among the youth is on the rise, a number of things can be done to solve it, Microsoft says.
Louis Otieno, General Manager, Microsoft East and Southern Africa, said if the public and private organisations aggressively provide youth with education and ICT skills, they would compete equally in the job market.
According to Microsoft, its development programs and partnerships have helped millions of young people across the globe through investments in education, skills training and programs that provide access to job opportunities thus improving their living standards.
Currently, the company is working with Net Hope, Microsoft East and Southern Africa .The programme trains, mentor and provide young computer science graduates with an internship programme .
IYF points out that 40 students have been hired by Microsoft business partners and other organizations to work as interns then after 6 months graduate to full time employees.
Microsoft also launched ‘Build Your Business program’ a free online, content-rich training curriculum for micro and small businesses that is targeted at entrepreneurs leverage productivity and technology tools for business prosperity.
IYF was established in 1990 to support youth empowerment.
