Prevalence of , and factors associated with , unemployment among graduates: Evidence from Tanzania / Jaquiline Amani

Unemployment in Tanzania and many other sub-Saharan African countries has remained one of the daunting challenges in these nascent economies. Drawing on secondary sources, this article reviews and analyses the employment barriers Tanzanian graduates face, with a view to discussing possible counter-strategies. the article reveals barriers to employment which include the choice of field of study, job–skills mismatch, ineffective career guidance, lack of confidence and poor communication skills, ineffective labour market information system (LMIS) and gaps in the employment policy. It argues that addressing these barriers requires deliberate efforts to inform prospective graduates about various occupation options through career guidance. there is a need to review university training curricula in order to incorporate key generic skills like communication and entrepreneurship. this will steer graduates towards self-employment amidst an almost saturated formal labour market. Indeed, a thorough assessment by higher learning institutions of the labour market needs vis-à-vis training programmes is crucial.

Keywords: unemploymentlabour market barriershigher educationuniversity graduatesTanzania