The second day’s discussions focused on the youth skills gap issue across the continent. “Under-skilled youth often accept mismatched jobs out of desperation,” Mukasa said at a breakout session, adding that they take the jobs as an alternative to being unemployed. Essa Chanie Mussa, an Ethiopian assistant professor at the University of Gondar, zeroed in on the issue of youth employment in farming jobs in southwestern Ethiopia. “The biggest issue is in the soft skills [in Tanzania] not in the technical ones,” Kinyondo said. The African Economic Conference 2019, with the theme of “Jobs, Entrepreneurship, and Capacity Development for African Youth,” runs from 2 to 4 December 2019.

Source: Daily Observer December 13, 2019 02:24 UTC