A lack of specialised schooling, particularly in terms of technical and vocational education, is fuelling Africa’s rising unemployment.
The continent’s working age population is rapidly growing, but unemployment is rife as jobs aren’t being created fast enough – and the reason is a lack of specialised schooling, according to London-based Capital Economics Africa economist John Ashbourne, quoted by Bloomberg.
"While educational outcomes are improving across Africa, the results are still much worse than in potential competitors abroad, particularly in terms of technical and vocational education, which has been totally overlooked in much of Africa,” he said.
“Low wages should draw job-intensive industries — particularly manufacturing — away from China and Vietnam where salaries are rising, but poor infrastructure increases the cost of doing business in Africa by so much that it negates the savings from labour,” according to Ashbourne.
