COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND AGRICULTURAL

BUSINESS

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

SENIOR SEMINAR ON

DETERMINANTS OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN ETHIOPIA

Prepared by :Mohammed Muktar

ID.NO: 2045/13

Advisor :Obsinet .E (MSc)

Febrary 2023

Haramaya , Ehiopia
 Table of Contents
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABRIVATION................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT..........................................................................................................iii
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................iv
1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1
Background.................................................................................................................................1
Statement of the Problem................................................................................................................................3
Objectives 3
General objective 3
1.3.2 Specific objectives.................................................................................................................................4

1.4 Significance of the seminar....................................................................................................4

2. LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................5
2.2. Theoretical Review...............................................................................................................6
Definition and concepts of youth unemployment......................................................................................................................6
Human capital theory..........................................................................................................................7
Social capital theory 9
The theory of job search.........................................................................................................................9
Types of unemployment.........................................................................................................................9

2.2. Empirical Literatures Review...............................................................................................11

3. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................13
Conclusions 13
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................................14
4. REFERENCES..................................................................................................................16

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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABRIVATION
ADLI Agricultural development leads industrialization

CSA Central Statically Agency

GTZ German Technical Corporation

ILO International labor organization

LFS Labor Force Survey

MOYSC Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture

OECD Organization for economic co-operation and development

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Firstly, always and forever i would like to thanks my lord Allah for giving me courage and
endurance to withstand all the problems and troubles.then words fail to convey my deepest
gratitude to my advisor Obsinet .E (MSc) for her constructive comments. Also my
appreciation goes to Haramaya university department of agricultural economics staff
members finally I would like to thank my family for their support and help.

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 ABSTRACT

This seminar paper reviewed the determinants of youth unemployment in Ethiopia. The
problem is so severe among the young people in countries of the world, particularly in the
developing countries. High level of youth unemployment is one of the critical socio-economic
and demographic problems facing Ethiopia also. The intensity of the problem is high in urban
areas in general and youth face serious difficulty in getting employment. This paper also
reviewed different literature on the definition, concept and determinants of youth
unemployment and include different theories on youth unemployment and type of
unemployment. finally conclude with recommendation by suggesting that the concerned
bodies should have to try to improve youth unemployment in the country in general.

Key words: youth, employment, unemployment,

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 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Unemployment is the most challenging economic problem facing the government. It is a vital
challenge for both developed and developing world (Kabaklalri et al, 2011). Unemployment
is one of the challenging socio economic problems that affect all people in the working age
group in the world. Unemployment is one of the challenges facing today’s world, Coupled
with the population growth and increased poverty, it has a significant impact on growth and
development at large. It causes a waste of economic resources such as productive labor force
and affects the long run growth potential of an economy and it gives rise to privet and social
problems in the society (Rafiket al., 2010 and Eita et al., 2010). The ability of youth to engage
in productive activities has both social and economic consequences for an economy. In
developing countries, youth face not only the challenge of obtaining productive employment,
but also obtaining safe and acceptable work (in case of our country Ethiopia prostitute is not
accepted socially). According to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD. 2010) estimates, there are 85 million unemployed youth around the world.
unemployment is the condition which is characterized with the incapability of an individual to
find a job of any kind. According to ILO (2012) defines unemployment is the main challenges
of the modern era in both the developed and developing countries, especially youths, which
the united Nations defines as, those between the ages of 15-25, are more affected by
unemployment. Young people are more vulnerable to lack experience, social networks or
other qualifications that would make them difficult to find employment. In most regions youth
were nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than adults (Amanuel D. 2016). Youths
are among the most important resources countries need to have in order to bring about
prosperity. Energetic, courageous and qualified youth can make changes to the social
economic development if they are well utilized and managed (Msigwa and Kipesha, 2013).
However, unemployment among young people has becoming a major challenge for all nations
in the world. It is not only a statistical concept, but also a multidimensional social
phenomenon. It results substantial crises in psychological, social and economic perspectives,

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some of them are: increasing crime rates and violence, dependence on family, low self-
esteem, poor social adaptation, depression and loss of confidence (Kabaklarli et al., 2011).
Nazir et.al (2009) in the same manner showed that unemployment affects the socio-economic
status of the family, leads to poor mental health, dependency and increases the magnitude of
corruption, drug addiction, crimes and suicide in a society. In the world there was
unprecedented increase in youth unemployment between 2008 and 2009. However, from 2009
to 2011 the youth unemployment rate decreased from 12.7 per cent to 12.3 per cent. By year
2012, it increased again to 12.4 per cent and has continued to rise to 12.6 per cent (ILO,
2013). In the Sub‐Saharan Africa youth unemployment rate is significantly higher than the
adult unemployment rate. It is as twice as adult unemployment rate. Regarding the
determinants and impacts of youth unemployment several studies have been conducted in
different parts of the world by various scholars. According toAssad and Levison (2013),
employment inadequacy for youth shows up in high rates because of low-job creation and
increasing environmental threats. This situation, if not controlled likely result to more
frequent sources of violence and civil conflict. Youth unemployment and underemployment is
much more prevalent in urban areas, where women are disproportionately suffering in the
labor markets (Haile, 2012). The seriousness of youth unemployment in Ethiopia is also
profound because, being unemployed and youth can lead to increase the risk of poverty, waste
of productive resource, increase income inequality and social chaos, (Guarcello and Rosati,
2007). The labor force is growing with an increasing proportion of youth and employment
growth is inadequate to absorb this high proportion of labor force specially the youth part in
different sectors of the economy in Ethiopia (Alemnew, 2014: cited at Aynalem Sh. and
Mulugeta D. (2018). The country is the highest urban unemployment rates worldwide, at
about 50% of the youth labor force (Berhanu et al., 2005) Despite the recent economic growth
witnessed in Ethiopia, youth unemployment is high and rising (Martha, 2012). The problem is
more severe in urban than in rural area. Generally have described that youth unemployment
occurs when industries have as low performance. It also occurs at the end of the school year
when larger number of youth graduate and look for work. In addition to this, youth
unemployment results from a general lack of demand for labor. When the business cycle turns
down wards demand for goods and services drops, consequently workers are laid off. A major
policy issue is a relation of unemployment to inflation. Wages increases pushing production

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 costs and prices higher thus contributing to inflation. When demand and unemployment
increase, inflationary pressure on wages and production are relieved, (Hussmann, 2004).

Statement of the Problem

Unemployment is a serious socioeconomic problem facing all age groups of a population.
However, youth unemployment is higher than adults. Moreover, ILO (2010) forecasts a
continued increase in global youth unemployment to an all-time high with a rate of 13.1
percent in 2010, followed by a moderate decline in 2011. This rate of youth unemployment
has been recognized as one of the most serious barriers to economic and social development
in many developing and developed countries (GTZ, 2010).Analysis of the factors associated
with youth unemployment indicated that the social and demographic characteristics of
individuals such as educational level, work experience, lack of employable skills, sex,
migration, attitudes of youth towards jobs, family economic status are associated with youth
employment. The unemployment situation of youth in Ethiopia is worst, particularly those
who reside in urban areas, (Berhanu et al, 2005). Youth in urban areas face a high rate of
unemployment almost 20 percent. They encounter more difficulty in finding wage jobs and
employment in the formal sectors of the economy or engaged in self-employment. Confirming
to this, youth unemployment rate in urban areas of the country, was found 24.5percent (CSA,
2010). Youth in urban areas of the Amhara region had limited access to employment
opportunities. According to CSA (2010) estimate, the rate of youth unemployment in urban
areas of the region was found 18%in 2007. This implies that youth in urban areas of the
region were less employed in the various socioeconomic sectors of the economy. this seminar
paper access demographic and socio-economic determinants of youth unemployment in
Ethiopia. Consequently, the results provide information for designing relevant program and
strategy to reduce the problem of youth unemployment in Ethiopia.

Objectives
General objective
The general and main objective of this seminar paper is to accessand identify the determinants
of youth unemployment.

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1.3.2 Specific objectives
The specific objectives of this seminar are;

• To examine the socio-demographic factors that affect the participation of the young
population to the labour force, as well as those which contribute to the high level of
unemployment.

• To describe the type and prevalence of youth unemployment across the regions and
urban/rural districts in Ethiopia.

• To estimate the likelihood of being unemployed among youths in Ethiopia given his/her
background and or individual characteristics.

• To draw conclusions from the ongoing experience in order to make recommendations for
programmes geared towards enhancing employment creation in the country.

Significance of the seminar

The significance of this seminar is to aware more about determinants of youth unemployment
to policy makers and other concerned bodies. It will be used to capture concerned information
for NGOs, investors and other organizations to set-up policy and strategy in relation to youth
unemployment. It may also be a source of information or as reference for future research. To
this end this paper may provide the following;-

 Understanding the demographic and socio economic factors of youth unemployment

in Ethiopia.
 Understanding type of unemployment prevails in Ethiopia.
 it may create public awareness about the problem of youth unemployment
 It may help people to take proper care to reduce youth unemployment and its
consequences.
 It may identify provide the gap between different researchers study and may give a
clue for further study.

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 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Unemployment is one of the main problems in the world economy today. Many
countries at different levels of development are trying to cope with this problem.
International Labor Organization (1992) defines that unemployment is the situation of
being out of work or need a job and continuously searching for it in the last four week or
unemployed ( age 16 or above) but available to join work in the next two weeks. People
who voluntarily do not want to work, full time students, retired people and children are no
included in unemployed category. In short, unemployment means the state when people
who are willing and able to do a job but fail to get the desired job. Youth unemployment is
a problem that affects most countries. The ability of youth to engage in productive
activities has both social and economic consequences for an economy. Youth unemployment
is often higher than the unemployment rate for adults highlighting the concerns that many
countries face in facilitating the transition from school to work. In developing
countries, youth face not only the challenge of obtaining productive employment, but also
obtaining safe and acceptable works (Broussara and Tsegay, 2012). The ILO estimates
that the number of unemployed youth is on the rise again since 2011, after declining from
the peak it reached at the time of the global financial crisis. It is expected to reach 74.2
million young people by 2014 based on (ILO, 2010). The global youth unemployment rate
has also been rising since 2011. It is currently estimated at 12.6% and is projected to increase
to 12.8% by 2018. The study by Echebiri (2005), on the basis of youth in Umuahia city in
Nigeria, finds that unemployment is influenced by age, marital status, dependency ratio,
education, current income and employment preference (paid or self-employment).
Alhawarin and Kreishan (2010) also indicate that age, gender, marital status, region, work
experience and educational level are the major determinants of unemployment in Jordan.
Studies from Ethiopia indicate that the potential causes of unemployment in urban
Ethiopia include increasing number of youth labor force, the rising internal migration,
literacy rate, poor to modest macroeconomic performance, low level of job creation
and low level of aggregate demand in the economy (Getinet, 2003; WB, 2007). Youth
unemployment is the outcome of different socio-economic and demographic factors at
macro and micro level. The micro level factors are directly associated to individuals’
demographic and socioeconomic attributes while the macro level factors are related to

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the national issues (Toit, 2003). According to Asalfew (2011), sex, migration, education,
social network, job preferences and access to business advisory services significantly
determine youth unemployment in Debre Birhan town, Ethiopia. However, household
income, father education, and marital status were insignificant.Tegegne (2011) examined
the association between socio-demographic variables and unemployment in Addis Ababa.
The econometric analysis has confirmed that sex and age are statistically significant
and have negative relationship. Regarding migration status, in spite of the type of job, a
migrant is more likely to be employed than a non-migrant. Dejene et al., (2016) conducted
binary logistic regression to assess the determinants of youth unemployment at Ambo,
Ethiopia. Their result indicated that among the demographic variables, age of the
respondents and migration status were significantly related to youth unemployment
whereas marital status of the respondents was not significant. From the human capital
variables included in the model, education and health status of the respondents were
significantly related to youth unemployment, whereas participation in employment
related trainings was not statistically significant. Among the economic determinants,
household income, access to credit and saving services and work experience were
significant. Access to job information and psycho-social factors were the two social
capital variables that were significantly related to youth unemployment.

2.2. Theoretical Review

Different Economists proposed several theories of youth unemployment over different time
periods. Therefore, this section reveals definitions and concept of youth unemployment and
some of the very prominent theoretical literatures on youth unemployment.

Definition and concepts of youth unemployment

Youth: the Ethiopian youth policy defined as that part of the society who is between (15 – 29)
years of age. There is no universally accepted definition for youth. Depending on the level of
their socio-economic status, countries develop their own age group to be referred as “youth”.
As a result, no single definition exists for the word “youth”. Some countries regard youth as
young persons whose age bracket ranges between the end of childhood and the beginning of
adulthood. Some other countries consider “youth” as young persons who start to engage
themselves to activities that are considered by the community to be expressions of adulthood.
Others define “youth” to biological growth assuming physical developments as well as

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psychological changes. For research purposes and policy suitability, the one with age
boundaries is favored (MYSC, 2004).

Unemployment: - described as those people without work but looking for work or Available
and ready to work during a reference period, (ILO, 2007). Unemployment has been defined in
different ways. As cited by Mafiri (2002), Human Science Research Council (1985) found
that most definitions of unemployment require that a person not only wants but also looks for
actively. This ignores the discouraged work-seekers who may want to work at the going
wage, but has given up looking because he perceives the chance of getting it to be very slim.
This type of unemployment is some time us known as hidden unemployment. Although no
market signals are generated by those in hidden unemployment, it is not conceptually
different from the open unemployment (Mafiri, 2002).

Youth unemployment:-is refers to the share of the labor force age 15-29 without work but
available for and seeking employment.

Employment: - includes those persons who were engaged in productive activity during the
reference period as paid or self-employed, (ILO, 2007).

Human capital theory

The perceived employability of individual can either be determined by the conditions of the
labor market that offer different opportunities to the individual and employee‟s resource
possession from the human capital theory perspective. Of these, two alternatives of the
employability determinants, the human capital theory deals with the individual resources
option, particularly the individual's efforts to invest in education and trainings (Berntson et al
2006:225). In their preparation to transition from school to work young people skill
development takes place in school (general human capital development),in the apprenticeship
of early work experience development, acquire training on specific work through specific
human capital investment (Becker 1964 in Fleischhauer 2007:5, Adams 2007: Becker
(1993:7) argues that for individual‟s human capital development, training and education are
the most important investment to be made, because the return to training investment can be
envisaged in the form of higher income, effective deeds, improved health and acquiring better
career positions. The human capital developed from work experiences and competency

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development, may contribute to higher earnings, better chance of promotions and acquiring
better position (Judge et al 1995 in Berntson et al 2006:226). In his earlier work on investment
in human capital analysis Becker found out that among other things, individuals‟ earnings
positively related to the level of skills they possessed, and the probability of unemployment
for individual is tend to be negatively correlated to the level of skills acquired (Becker
1962:10). Longer time education, engagement and subsequent increment in labor market
participation could provide youth greater opportunities for upward social mobility and
autonomy (Naafs 2012:50). the perceived image of education as a strategy to move up the
social ladder and the imagined linkage of extended years of schooling to white-collar Jobs
have encouraged parents to invest their resources in a formal education. In today‟s global
south though education for those formerly excluded has been recognized as a means of self-
improvement, the opportunities for those groups to benefit economically from this inclusion is
getting slim (Jeffrey 2008: 739, Jeffrey 2009: 182). This is because, in many cases education
has failed to realize the young people‟s employment expectations and desire for upward
social mobility. However, in developing countries young people continue to place their hope
of prolonging their participation in schooling to find professional Jobs despite many of them
remain waiting for a longer period of time before they secure paid jobs (ibid 2009:182). The
return to training investment in developing countries is poor due to primarily the slow growth
of the skilled labor demand in poor economy. Other factors such as poor administration, the
level of training capacity, the „quantity and quality of training‟, and the economic policies
that do not favor incentives to firms and individuals to invest training have contributed to
reduce the returns to training investment (Middleton et al 1993:1). UNESCO (2012:1)
highlighted that the other major challenges currently affecting urban youth empowerment
opportunities in developing countries is the less attention given to informal education and
entrepreneurial skill development in urban settings.

However,Schultz (2011) noted that education plays a great and significant role in the
economy of a nation. It increases the productivity and efficiency of people by increasing the
level of cognitive stock of economically productive human capability which is a product of
innate abilities and investment in human beings. He further illustrated that education
increases the chances of employment in the labor market, allows People to reap pecuniary and
non-pecuniary returns and gives them opportunities for job mobility, and leads to greater

8
output for society and enhanced earnings for the individual worker. He furthermore, stated
that higher education provides the skills needed to perform complex jobs, making people
more productive, thus sustaining economic growth. People with the most human capital are
said to be the most productive, and thus secure the best jobs and the highest salaries. Thus,
education plays an important role in determining the employment status of an individual.

Social capital theory

Social capital approach focused on the strength of the social tie used by a person in the
process of finding a job. Granovett (2005), states that strong ties or social networks among
people are frequent, emotionally intense ties with friends, advisors and co-workers. The
information possessed by any member of this circle is quickly shared with the other members.
He also noted that weak ties are infrequent, not emotionally intense, and restricted to one
narrow type of relationship. Individuals with weak ties will be deprived of information from
distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of
their close friends. Thus, individuals with weak ties could miss job opportunities available
through social networks.

The theory of job search

Stephen and Jackman formulated the theory of job search. For Stephen and Jackman (2012), a
typical unemployed person looking for work is expected to pass three stages. At stage one;
he/she collects information about job vacancies. Vacancies come with different pre-assigned
wage and conditions. In stage two, he/she decides to apply for the vacancies that he/she learns
of. The decision to apply for it depends on the expected value of getting a job or not. Lastly,
he/she accepts the offer of any job for which he/she applied in getting it. The success of
individual’s application depends on his/her personal characteristics. Unemployment literally
applies to all persons without work and actively looking for work. Points out that the
unemployment rate in an economy is the number of people unemployed expressed as a
percentage of the total labor force. The total labor force is defined as the number of people
employed plus the number of people unemployed.

Types of unemployment
There are four primary categories of unemployment that are typically was discuss. They are
seasonal, structural, frictional, and cyclical unemployment (ILO, 2007).

9
1. Seasonal Unemployment: It is a condition People who are out of work and looking for job
during the off-season. Examples include ice-cream vendors during the winter, schoolteachers
during the summer (they are considered unemployed only if they are looking for a job during
this time), and ski-lift operators during the summer.

2. Structural Unemployment: Structural Unemployment, one type of unemployment, is

associated with the mismatch of jobs and workers due to the lack of skills or simply the wrong
area desired for work. Structural unemployment depends on the social needs of the economy
and dynamic changes in the economy software. Workers who find themselves in this situation
find that they need to acquire new skills in order to obtain a new job.

3. Frictional Unemployment: Frictional Unemployment is always present in the economy,

resulting from temporary transitions made by workers and employers or from workers and
employers having inconsistent or incomplete information. This type of unemployment is
closely related to structural unemployment due to its dependence on the dynamics of the
economy. It is caused because unemployed workers may not always take the first job offer
they receive because of the wages and necessary skills. This type of unemployment is also
caused by failing firms, poor job performance, or obsolete skills. This may also be caused by
workers who will quit their jobs in order to move to different parts of the country. Frictional
unemployment can be seen as a transaction cost of trying to find a new job; it is the result of
imperfect information on available jobs. For instance, a case of frictional unemployment
would be a college student quitting their fast-food restaurant job to get ready to find a job in
their field after graduation. Unlike structural unemployment this process would not be long
due to skills the college graduate has to offer a potential firm.

4. Cyclical Unemployment: Unemployment that is attributed to economic contraction is

called cyclical unemployment. The economy has the capacity to create jobs which increases
economic growth. Therefore, an expanding economy typically has lower levels of
unemployment. On the other hand, according to cyclical unemployment an economy that is in
a recession faces higher levels of unemployment. When this happens there are more
unemployed workers than job openings due to the breakdown of the economy. This type of
unemployment is heavily concentrated on the activity in the economy. To understand this
better take a look at our Business Cycles section. For instance, advances in technology and

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changes in market conditions often turn many skills obsolete; this typically increases the
unemployment rate. For example, laborers who worked on cotton fields found their jobs
obsolete with Eli Whitney's patenting of the cotton gin. Similarly, with the rise of computers,
many jobs in manual book keeping have been replaced by highly efficient.

2.2. Empirical Literatures Review

Unemployment is one of the most serious problems facing the African continent. In
accordance with IMF/World Bank conditions, most of the African countries applying
structural adjustment measures have retrenched large number of public-sector workers. Three
empirical studies investigated the determinants of unemployment duration in urban Ethiopia:
Serneels (2004), and Seife (2004), Mesfin (2012). The first of the two studies used the same
data source and the same methodology. Not surprisingly, results of the study are quite similar.
The authors found that education has powerful effects on labor force participation as other
literatures suggest. Seife (2004) investigated unemployment duration in developing countries
in the context of urban Ethiopia. The author's econometric evidence shows that the hazard rate
employment is significantly affected by age, marital status, and highest level of education
attained, location and support mechanism. Serneels (2007) investigated the nature of
unemployment among young men in urban Ethiopia and found that it is concentrated among
relatively well-educated first-time job seekers who aspire to a public sector job and spend on
average close to four years in unemployment. In most countries the unemployment ratio is
higher for women than for men. The unemployment rate of female and male in South Africa
was 15 and 8.1percent respectively. Similarly, the unemployment rate of female and male in
sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 was 8.2 and7.2 percent respectively (ILO, 2009). So, this rate
indicates that unemployment is more of a problem of females than males in Africa. Ethiopia is
a poor agrarian country with per capita income of (World Bank, 2012). Recently; however,
the country has been achieving a promising economic growth. Ethiopian economy is
predominantly agricultural and its economic policy is Agricultural Development Led
Industrial (ADLI) strategy. About 50percent of the economy, 90 percent of export earnings
and 70 percent of the country raw materials in the economy is emanated from this sector of
the economy. Also this sector accounts for about 80 percent of Employment opportunity. As
part of Africa, a high level of unemployment and underemployment is one of the critical
socio-economic problems facing Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s population is predominantly young with

11
about 45% of the population being below 15 years of age. The proportion of working age
population (15-64 years) will be estimated at about 52% (CSA, 2007). Female unemployment
is a key indicator of the extent to which females lack labor market opportunities to generate
income (UNDP, 2010). The urban female women unemployment rate was43.7 percent
compared to 29.4 percent for urban male unemployment (Berhanu et al., 2005). According to
Ethiopian labor force survey report, the unemployment rate of female and male at country
level were 12.5 percent and4.3 percent respectively (LFS, 2005).Similarly, the 2005 Ethiopian
LFS reveals that unemployment rate of female and male were 7.8 and 2.5 percent
respectively.

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3. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions
Unemployment is one of the challenging socio-economic problems that affect all people in the
working age group. The problem is so severe among the young people in countries of the
world, particularly in the developing countries. The issue of youth unemployment is the
outcome of different socio-economic and demographic factors. This is designed to examine
determinants of youth unemployment in Ethiopia. Based on different study, females are
more unemployed as compared to males and also migrants are not employed in various socio-
economic sectors. On the other hand, socio-economic characteristics of the youth also
contribute to unemployment. The probability of unemployment increases as the individual has
less access to social network. Most of youth who have more access to social network are most
of the time get job than those who have less access.Those individuals who get married are
employed and not get married are unemployed. The availability of inadequate business
advisory services to the young people significantly influences the employment status of youth.
Based on the findings, it is possible to conclude that the relative risk of unemployment is
higher for youth who have no access to the service means that advisor service and
unemployment have negative relation. Besides, preferring jobs in the formal sector also
affects the employment status of youth. Thus, youth who prefer paid employment in the
formal sectors have higher likelihood of unemployment. In addition to this the economic
status of family also affects the employment status of youth. Based on the above results youth
whose family not have better income were unemployed.

Generally, demographic factors coupled with socio- economic attributes, reduces the chance
of employment opportunities of the young people. As a result, individuals, families, societies
in particular and the country in general, are expected to pay social and economic costs of
youth unemployment

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Recommendation
Based on the literature of the seminar, the following points are recommended to reduce the
youth unemployment.

 It is revealed that youth which have no work experience were more unemployed.
Thus, intervention is required to include more jobs to newly graduated youths by hiring
institutions such as private organizations, government offices and NGOs.
Furthermore, the study recommends that the concerned bodies should try to improve
the living condition and employment opportunities to rural youths in order to reduce rural-
urban migration since migrants are more likely to be unemployed in the urban area
and in general can be a source for urban unemployment to rise. Finally, efforts
should be made to increase the availability of initial working capital, the identification of
profitable business areas and provision of practical training for urban youths to be
engaged at their own business.
 Improving the accessibility and quality of business advisory services; the achievement of
getting productive work is also the functions of quality business advisory services. Thus,
improving the quality and accessibility of the service is essential to employment. One of
the ways of improving the accessibility of the services is encouraging NGO’s and other
private institutions to participate in making the service available at lower administrative
level; capacitating the existing service provider institutions through trained manpower,
finance and materials.
 Improving the awareness of youth towards jobs; Preferring jobs only in the formal sectors
particularly jobs in government offices increases the likelihood of being unemployed then
the government should try to improve the attitude of youth towards job by creating
awareness and by giving credit access to start business by them. And should generate
employment opportunities for the employees as well
 Addressing the problem of migrants; this is the main mechanisms to reduce youth
unemployment. As shown in the literature migrants are the victims of unemployment in
town. Though identifying the pushing factors of migrants such as flood, famine, lack of
credit, and social and economic costs.

14
 Social networks are important to find jobs in urban areas. Having higher access of social
network increases the chance of getting new information about job opportunities available
in the residential areas as well as outside the area. In order to increase the social networks;
educating youth to bring change in their social communication habits using public and
private media, encourage them to use and access internet, mobile telephone; participate in
youth related activities, visit and ask private employment agencies, friends, and relatives.

15
 4. REFERENCES

Agresti A., (2002). Categorical Data Analysis. Wiley Inter science, New York.

Alemnew Getnet (2014). Socio-economic & Demographic Determinants of Graduate

youths’ unemployment: In the case of Debre Markos town, Amhara Regional State,
University of Gonder.

Amanu’el Disassa (2016). Determinants of youth Unemployment; Evidence from

Ethiopia, Global journal of Human-Social Science. Arts & Humanities - Psychology
Volume 16, ISSN: 2249460x & Print ISSN: 0975-587X.

Asalfew Abera (2011). Demographic and Socio-Economic Determinants of Youth

Aynalem SH. and Mulugeta D. (2018). Determinants of urban youth unemploymen in

East Gojjam zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. International Journal of Economic
Development Volume11, Number 2 pp. 245-265.

Berhanu, D., Abraham T. & Hannah D., (2005). Characteristics and Determinants of
Youth unemployment, Underemployment and Inadequate Employment in Ethiopia

Central Statistically Agency (2013). Statistical Report on National Labour Force Survey.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Evidence from urban Ethiopia, University of East Anglia.
Contact:p.sernil

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Getinet Haile, (2003). The Incidence of Youth Unemployment in Urban Ethiopia. Paper
presented at the 2nd EAF International Symposium on Contemporary Development
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