The Role of Private Higher Education Institutions in Reducing Urban Youth Unemployment

Abstract

Due to poor economic condition coupled with rapid population growth, inadequate Government and family support and lack of access to resources, the Ethiopian Youth is confronted with massive unemployment problem. In fact, this chronic problem is aggravated by the mismatch between the type of education/training on one hand, and the labour market on the other. Although, the magnitude and extent of unemployment is not fully known according to CSA (1999), unemployment seems to be more of an urban problem, where the rate is five times higher than that of the rural areas. The incidence of unemployment also differs between sexes. In urban areas a significant proportion of unemployed female population (34.0%) was reported as compared to males (18.3%). The above pattern also holds true for the rural areas where 8.6% of female and 2.4% of male propulation were reported to be unemployed. In connection to this reality, the educational and training program rendered by Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) in the country has greater role to empower and enable the youth to be self-supportive, capable of contributing their share of responsiblility for the betterment of the society and productive citizens. In view of this, the study aimed at showing the linkage between education and employment, and more importantly, the role of PHEIs in mitigating urban youth unemployment. To achieve the stated objectives, data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Primary data were collected through structured interview with 100 randomly selected students from St. Mary's College and from 10 employer organizations that are selected purposively. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The preliminary findings of the study indicated that PHEIs in Ethiopia are playing great role in meeting the needs of educated manpower. They are also found to meet the educational needs of the youth, who are unable to join the public higher education institutions. The growth and expansion of PHEIs has also created employment opportunities for many young people looking for jobs.