Poor communication, collaboration and time management skills, and low critical thinking capacity are among key issues making most youths jobless, a new survey shows.
Dubbed the ‘Skills Needs Survey report’ by the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), the report notes that most employers have raised concern over youths' skills gap, making them not stay longer at work places.
This is despite the unemployment crisis affecting a larger number of them, with the Youth Congress saying out of every 10 unemployed Kenyans, seven are young people aged 35 and below.
Lack of creativity, problem solving and conflict resolution skills were also identified as other social impediments to youths’ progress in the job market.
From the survey, 49.1 per cent of the respondent firms identified effective communication as the most lacking social skills among job applicants.
Critical thinking at 41.7 per cent, teamwork 25.7 per cent and time management skills at 23.4 per cent follow this.
“Employers also decry insufficient technical skills such as computer use proficiency, foreign language proficiency and management skills,” the report states.
The survey confirmed that such gaps have made it difficult for enterprises to fill vacancies.
About 20 per cent of the enterprises reported having difficulties in filling available slots forcing them to employ job applicants with lower qualifications than what they sought.
The findings established that that two per cent of positions in various enterprises are hard to fill, with manufacturing sector the most affected.
"Most hard to fill vacancies requiring a TVET skill level are in architecture, building and construction, engineering and transportation, distribution and logistics while those that mostly require first level university education are in IT, finance and business management,” says the report.
It further states that those that require masters degree but prove difficult to fill are in are in media, communication and public relations while those that mostly require doctorate degree qualification are in science and mathematics.
Among the reasons for non-employment or retention of staff, according to the survey, was lack of qualified candidates a company’s region and high salary expectations by candidates.
FKE chief executive Jacqueline Mugo said some of the consequences of skills deficit include inhibition of business expansion, loss of revenue and loss of customers or market share.
She called on enterprises to collaborate in taming skills gap menace through training, capacity building and curriculum based improvements.
“Going solo in trying to upskill a specific enterprise employees will only lead to unhealthy competition and prolong the repeated ritual of poaching amongst enterprises,” Mugo said.
The report also established the career fields where major skills are demanded by enterprises in the country.
“Information technology (28.4%); finance and business management (27.4%); engineering (19.2%); transportation, distribution and logistics (18.6%) and legal (18.2%),” it reads.
“These fields majorly require undergraduate degree at 43.8 per cent, and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) at 34.9 per cent.”
It adds that workers with only secondary education are mostly demand in public safety, corrections and security career fields and arts and recreational service.
The top TVET skills demands by the respondent enterprises are on transport and logistics at (21.3%), electrical (21.1%), building and construction (18.2%).
The most demanded engineering skills by enterprises is computer and software engineering (30.7%), followed by electrical and electronics engineering (27.4%) and mechanical and production engineering (25%).
