African youth facing the dual challenge of employment and education (By Professor Amadou Aly Mbaye)

Unlike other regions of the world where population aging is becoming a major concern, the African continent stands out for its youthful population. Young people (under 25) make up 70% of the total population there (UNFPA), compared to only 25% in Europe, 55% in Asia, and 30% in North America. According to numerous assessments, this particular demographic configuration in Africa should provide the foundation for developing labor-intensive activities in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Paradoxically, the reality is quite different: young people are the primary excluded from an already struggling job market, while simultaneously facing an education system that leaves them failing. Addressing the challenges faced by young Africans will require coordinated policies for education and employment.

NEET status: a marker of social unease among young people

While the most common labor market indicators (unemployment, vulnerability, underemployment, etc.) all reveal an unparalleled exposure of African youth to life's hardships, the learning crisis to which they are also exposed only exacerbates their vulnerability. NEET (Neither in Education, Employment, or Training) is an indicator that, as its name suggests, encompasses all young people (aged 15-24) who are neither employed nor in education or training.

The "unemployment" indicator has the drawback of including among employed individuals all young people who report having had a job, without considering the quality of these jobs or the poverty level of those holding them. Furthermore, it completely ignores those who, discouraged, are no longer seeking employment and are thus excluded from the labor market. In Africa, while the unemployment rate is around 6%, the NEET rate is projected to be almost four times higher by 2026.

At the same time, indicators related to youth education (for example, gross enrollment rates) only count those who are in the system and completely disregard the status (employed or not) of those who have dropped out of the education system. Thus, young people who drop out of school and find themselves unemployed are doubly excluded.

Average NEET figures in Africa reveal significant gender disparities, both between countries and between regions within the same country. For example, in Senegal in 2024, there was a gap of almost 10 percentage points between women and men, with a NEET rate of 44% for women, compared to a national average of 34.4%. Similarly, a gap of the same magnitude was observed between rural (39.9%) and urban (29.9%) areas. These differences also reflect the inequalities in economic opportunities that exist between young people from these different social categories.

Unsurprisingly, situations of political instability and civil war also exacerbate the vulnerability of young people. According to ILO data, in conflict-affected countries such as the DRC and Sudan, the NEET rate is close to 100%, compared to around 30% in most of these countries before the war.

Furthermore, conflicts lead to the displacement of young people, negatively impacting their education and access to employment. Finally, young people are prime targets for recruitment campaigns by conflicting factions, who use them as cannon fodder. In riots and other manifestations of political instability, they are also at the forefront and constitute the main victims. The riots that have occurred in Kenya, Senegal, and Madagascar in recent years have exposed young people more than any other social group.

As a consequence of their vulnerable situation, many young people are exhibiting quite worrying symptoms of anxiety. According to the World Values Survey, 83.3% of young Africans express significant concern about maintaining their employment, compared to a global average of 64.3%. Similarly, according to the ILO, more than 80% of young Africans believe there are not enough economic opportunities in their respective countries, compared to a global average of 53.4%.

Failure of the educational and productive systems

The exclusion of young people from the labor market stems from both the limited size of the productive base and the weaknesses of the education system in which they are enrolled. While tangible progress has been made in access to education, quality management remains the Achilles' heel of our education systems. The gross enrollment rate has made remarkable progress, reaching an average of 80% in primary school and almost 70% in lower secondary school in Africa. However, the quality of learning is so poor that by the age of 10, 86% of enrolled children still cannot read and understand a text in the language of instruction, compared to 60% in Asia and 50% in Latin America (World Bank). But the most glaring weakness of African education systems, and one that directly affects NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), is the high dropout rate. For example, in Senegal, the secondary school dropout rate is 8.8%. At the same time, nearly 50% of children experience academic failure or drop out between middle and high school. In many African countries, the situation is much worse. Thus, every year, hundreds of thousands of young people are expelled from the education system, without the job market being able to absorb them.

The significant number of young people rejected by the education system and unable to find employment is primarily explained by the limited productive base of African economies, contrasting sharply with strong demographic growth. While African debt has reached GDP proportions in recent years, bordering on financial distress, the investments it is supposed to finance are subject to very little serious study or rigorous selection processes. Hence their marginal impact on growth, employment, or poverty. Better-targeted public investments could have significantly reduced the costs of production factors (energy, transport, irrigation, telecommunications, etc.) that continue to hinder the competitiveness of private companies and discourage private investment. The other pillar of public policy that could help remove bottlenecks in the productive base, and consequently in youth employment, is addressing institutional weaknesses that stifle talent and discourage risk-taking. A meticulous and intrusive tax system, relatively cumbersome customs procedures, and the importance of cartels in providing essential business services all play a significant role.

Small and nano-enterprises form the backbone of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa. Due to their exclusion from capital markets, they often operate in highly labor-intensive sectors. Supporting them to modernize and increase their productivity would significantly unlock the growth potential of their countries and consolidate existing jobs. An appropriate financing model, combined with well-designed training programs that target academic, professional, behavioral, and interpersonal skills, as well as operational and managerial competencies, could significantly contribute to their development.

What synergies exist for education and employment policies?

To solve the NEET problem, African governments essentially have two levers: education policies and employment policies. Any policy that keeps young people in the school system longer would directly, and by definition, lead to a decrease in the NEET rate.

But the practical scope of such policies should also be revisited. Indeed, African education systems, which are notoriously poor in quality, are also characterized by low levels of youth employability. In our view, implementing less expensive, more practical and vocational training systems would have a greater impact on the future career prospects of young people who leave school early. The results of experimental analyses concerning the impact of this type of training on employment are very encouraging. For example, in an experimental study conducted on a sample of approximately 2,000 disadvantaged young people in Uganda, Livia Alphonsi and her team showed that a vocational training program well-targeted to the needs of previously identified employers significantly increased, by about 30% compared to the control group, their likelihood of obtaining and maintaining quality employment.

The second lever concerns policies aimed at employment for the majority of young people. Beyond training, access to financing should be a key priority. Access to markets, through integration into national and international value chains, represents another challenge for small, often informal, businesses.

Professor Amadou Aly Mbaye,

Economist, former Rector of UCAD