A new platform that aims to address Africa’s youth unemployment gap through data projections, was launched in Rwanda on March 21. Already in use in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, the African Youth Employment Clock, a first-of-its-kind digital tool, monitors real-time job growth and forecasts employment trends for African youth through 2030.
As per the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda’s (NISR) 2023 labour force survey, the youth population, aged 16 to 30 years, faced a relatively higher unemployment rate of 21.0 per cent. This statistic is a reminder of the unique challenges young job seekers encounter, including a lack of experience and limited job market access.
Ivan Murenzi, Deputy Director General of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NSIR), said the African Youth Employment Clock will provide youth employment data in Rwanda to enable various stakeholders to discuss solutions to allow more young people to economically advance.
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"NSIR welcomes initiatives of others who undertake projects to make information much simpler. This tool is one of the drives that focus on youth and employment matters and, therefore, highlights the underlying issues. It is user-friendly and attempts to model and forecast information, which is important.
"This complements our work and efforts to make data more available and easily consumed by the intended users, and ultimately, influence the relevant decisions and policies,” Murenzi stated.
Wolfgang Fengler, Chief Executive Officer of World Data Lab, a data enterprise, said Rwanda is growing and has a dynamic labour force, thus urging young people to be connected and tap into diverse opportunities in construction, manufacturing and more.
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He is optimistic that the employment clock will support and inform the journey to more inclusive African labour markets through innovative data modelling and visualisation.
Lack of skills is still one of the challenges hindering youth from competing in the labour market, but the government provides internship opportunities to offer young people skills.
Amos Mfitundinda, the head of the Strategic Capacity Development Department at Rwanda Development Board (RDB), explained that there are diverse initiatives for the youth—for those who have completed university, and tertiary education, or are uneducated.
"We offer an internship programme that targets university graduates and tertiary education including polytechnics. The six-month training equips them with hands-on skills in the labour force,” Mfitundinda said.
Mfitundinda urged students to acquire employability skills such as vocational training, as the government aims to have TVET make up at least 60 per cent of the educational strategic plan.
Anitha Urayeneza, an entrepreneur and member of the Private Sector Federation, said women ought to acquire education and attain skills to compete for jobs because opportunities are already available for them.
She stressed the need for public-private dialogues and engagements with all relevant stakeholders on job creation and promotion opportunities for youth and women.
The African Youth Employment Clock was developed by World Data Lab— a research organisation that specialises in using data and technology to provide insights on global trends and development issues—and Mastercard Foundation.