DILLA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Research proposal on:

THE CAUSES OF EDUCATED YOUTH

UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE LIVES OF YOUTH IN
DILLA TOWN

By: Tsion Tariku

Advisor: Daniel (PhD)

Dilla, Ethiopia April, 2021

Contents
Page
List of Figures...............................................................................................................................................1
ACRONYMS..................................................................................................................................................2
EXCUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................3
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................1
 1.1 Background of the Study...................................................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the Problem.................................................................................................................3
1.3 Objective of the Study.......................................................................................................................5
1.3.1 General Objective of the Study...................................................................................................5
1.3.2 Specific Objectives of the Study..................................................................................................5
1.4 Research Questions...........................................................................................................................5
1.5 Significance of the Study....................................................................................................................6
1.6 The Scope of the Study......................................................................................................................6
1.7 Organization of the Study..................................................................................................................6
2. Literature Review....................................................................................................................................7
2.1. Concepts and Working Definition of Terms......................................................................................7
2.1.1. Working Definition of Youth and Youth Concepts.....................................................................7
2.1.2. Working Definition of Unemployment.......................................................................................8
2.1.3. Working Definition of Educated.................................................................................................8
2.2. Definition and Concept of Unemployment.......................................................................................8
2.3. Different Theories of Unemployment.............................................................................................10
2.3.1. Human Capital Theory.............................................................................................................11
2.3.2. Marxist Theory of Unemployment...........................................................................................12
2.3.3. Market Liberal Theory.............................................................................................................13
2.3.4. Monetarism Theory.................................................................................................................13
2.4. Youth Unemployment Nature, Trend and Experiences in Urban Ethiopia......................................14
2.5 School to Work Transition of Youth in Ethiopia...............................................................................15
2.6 Indications of Educated Youth Unemployment Pressure in Ethiopia...............................................16
2.7 Educated youth Unemployment Trends in Dilla Town....................................................................16
2.8. The Causes of Educated youth Unemployment..............................................................................17
2.8.1. Education and youth Unemployment......................................................................................17
2.8.2. Economic Situation of the Country..........................................................................................18
2.8.3. Lack of Entrepreneurship Skill..................................................................................................19
2.8.4. Skill Mismatch between the Supply and the Demand of Labor...............................................19
2.8.5. Rural-Urban Migration.............................................................................................................19
2.8.6. Population Growth..................................................................................................................20
2.9. The Effects of Educated youth Unemployment..............................................................................21
2.9.1 Impact of Unemployment on Individuals..................................................................................21
2.9.2. Impact of Educated youth Unemployment on the Community and Economy.........................22
 2.10. The Cause of Educated Youth Unemployment and the Lives of Youths.......................................23
2.10.1. Conceptual Frame Work........................................................................................................23
3.1 Description of the Study Area..........................................................................................................25
3.1.1 Geographical Location and Area...............................................................................................25
3.1.2 Administrative Units of the City................................................................................................26
3.2 Climate of the Town........................................................................................................................26
3.3 Population of Town.........................................................................................................................26
3.4 Water Supply and Sanitation...........................................................................................................26
3.5 Economic Activities of the Town......................................................................................................27
3.6 Research Methodology....................................................................................................................27
3.6.1 Research Design........................................................................................................................27
3.6.2 Data Type and Source of Data..................................................................................................27
3.7 Sampling Techniques.......................................................................................................................28
3.8 Data Collection Methods and Procedures.......................................................................................28
3.8.1 Primary Data Collection............................................................................................................28
3.8.2 Secondary Data Collection........................................................................................................30
3.9 Data Analysis...................................................................................................................................30
3.10 Ethical Considerations...................................................................................................................31
4. Time Schedule andBudget Breakdown..................................................................................................32
4.1 Time Schedule.................................................................................................................................32
4.2 Budget Breakdown..........................................................................................................................33
Reference....................................................................................................................................................1
ACRONYMS

BoFED- Dilla town Bureaus of Finance and Economic Development

BoLSA– Dilla town Bureaus of Labor and Social Affairs

CSA- Central Statistical Agency

ILO - International Labor Organization

MEDAC- Ministry of Economic Development and Population

MoE – Ministry of Education

MoFED- Ministry of Finance and Economic Development

MoLSA- Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs

MSEs - Micro and Small Scale Enterprises

I
II
 CHAPTER ONE
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Unemployment is the most challenging economic problem facing the government. It is a vital
challenge for both developed and developing world (Kabaklalri et al, 2011). The ability of
youth to engage in productive activities has both social and economic consequences for an
economy. In developing countries, youth face not only the challenge of obtaining productive
employment, but also obtaining safe and acceptable work. According to Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD. 2010) estimates, there are 85 million
unemployed youth around the world.

Unemployment is the condition which is characterized with the incapability of an individual

to find a job of any kind. According to ILO (2012) defines unemployment is the main
challenges of the modern era in both the developed and developing countries, especially
youths, which the United Nations defines as, those between the ages of 15-24, are more
affected by unemployment. Young people are more vulnerable to lack experience, social
networks or other qualifications that would make them difficult to find employment. In most
regions youth were nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than adults (Amanuel D.
2016).

The labor force is growing with an increasing proportion of youth and employment growth is
inadequate to absorb this high proportion of labor force specially the youth part in different
sectors of the economy in Ethiopia (Aynalem Sh. and Mulugeta D., 2018). The country is the
highest urban unemployment rates worldwide, at about 50% of the youth labor force
(Berhanu et al., 2005).

In Ethiopia like many other African countries, there are some indications of improvement in
human development. According to the report of UNDP (2013), Ethiopia is placed among the
top development movers. It ranked 11 out of 135 countries in terms of registered
improvement in its Human Development Index (HDI). But the country remains low in the
rank and it was 174 out of 187 countries. One of human development that Ethiopia has been
improved is the access to formal education. Chuta and Crivelo (2012) stated that since the last
few years Ethiopia is improving the access to education for all youngsters through the
initiative like “Education for All”. According to the authors, by placing their hope on formal

1
education, Young peoples and their family have invested their scarce resources on school
education on the aim of getting better jobs and brightening their future.

Despite the recent economic growth witnessed in Ethiopia, youth unemployment is high and
rising (Martha, 2012). The problem is more severe in urban than in rural area. According to
Ethiopian labor force survey report, the unemployment rate of urban youth at country level
was 22.9 while it was only 3.1% in rural areas Labor Force Survey (LFS), 2013). It is special
concern for Ethiopians and has a wider implication for the youth in addition to leading their
life as expected to help parents and extended families (Shumet, 2011). According to a survey
in 55 urban areas, unemployment was estimated at 41.3% and the incidence of youth
unemployment was 45.5% and 35.7% for females and males respectively (Aynalem Sh. and
Mulugeta D. 2018).

During the first Growth and Transformation Plan of Ethiopia (GTP) from (2011-2015) more
emphasis was given to youth development such as empowering women and youth to ensure
their social, economic and political participation than directly focusing on issue of
unemployment (Marta, 2012). In the two successive development plans the government has
induced employment interventions for youth through integrating TVET to the need SMEs
development and subsidizing the employment creation projects in integrated housing,
construction and infrastructure development programs (MoFED, 2010). However, despite
these efforts in Ethiopia youth unemployment remains widespread. Particularly urban
educated youth unemployment rate is increasing year to year (Marta, 2012).

This study will be seeks to analyze the causes of unemployment for educated youth who have
TVET certificate and above from private and government universities. The study will be
conducted among youth graduates who look for jobs in Dilla town. The study would examine
the causes that make educated youth to remain unemployed and the life of these unemployed
educated youths.

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 1.2 Statement of the Problem

As different studies indicated unemployment is a global issue that challenging every nation.
It represents the underutilization of human capital and it is very important issue that
negatively affects the development of the country. The potential causes of unemployment in
urban Ethiopia include increasing number of youth labor force, the rising internal migration,
literacy rate, poor to modest macroeconomic performance, low level of job creation and low
level of aggregate demand in the economy (Getinet H., 2003; WB, 2007). Youth
unemployment is the outcome of different socio-economic factors at macro and micro level
(Aynalem Sh. and Mulugeta D. 2018).

According to Pieter (2008) and Nye (2012) focus on the labor side analysis aiming for a
demand base analysis on the issue. Asalfew (2011) and Tsegay, IGC (2012) intended to
measure the magnitude and the determinants of the problem. The subject of unemployment is
further scrutinized form several angles in an effort to address the daring challenge of youth
joblessness.

A study by Marta (2012) indicates that in Ethiopia the share of unemployed educated youth
of higher grades has persistently increased in the last two decades. In line with Marta, CSA
(2013) revealed that, in the last fifteen years, because of the relatively increasing of
employment opportunity in the informal sectors like (MSEs), unemployment rates for the
general youth population and urban youth population has declined from 11.1 % and 33 % in
1999 to 6.8 % and 20 % in 2013 respectively. While unemployment rates for youth with
higher education has risen from 2 % to 7.5 % during the same period.

There are many causes which make educated youth to remain unemployed. The causes are
varied from country to country and from area to area depending on the variation on the socio
economic factors. There are many scholars that identified the cause of youth unemployment.
Nebil et al. (2010) on their study, revealed that low level of education as a main cause for
youth unemployment. According to the authors Education is a means for enhancing the
productivity and employability of a country’s labor force and has a positive influence on
occupational type; More educated workers are much more likely to be in wage employment
and much less likely to be in unpaid work than their less-educated counterparts. Similarly
with Nebil et al. Tesfaye(2015) also revealed on his study that education and unemployment

3
have negative relationship, because if you want a good job, get a good education because the
chance to have employment is high.

But contrarily to Tesfaye and Nebil et al., there are many authors that argued that education
does not have a guarantee for employment. According to Mains (2007) and Serneels (2007),
in Ethiopia relatively well educated and fresh job seekers are largely affected by the
incidence of unemployment with prolonged unemployment duration close to four years and
even more years. Similarly with these authors, Broussar and Tekeleselassie (2012) on their
studies indicated that youth with higher education were less likely to be unemployed in 1999
than they were in 2011. According to the authors, the reason why educated youth stayed
unemployed is that labor demand has been unable to keep pace with the increases in
educational attainment, particular with jobs which demand a highly skilled labor (as
measured by education). The authors also indicated that there is a positive relationship
between educational attainment and unemployment.

Martha (2012) concluded that unemployment and underemployment continued to be serious

social problems in Ethiopia despite some improvements in recent years. The problem of
youth unemployment is growing rapidly in Ethiopia particularly in Dilla town and
unemployment results social exclusion and a sense of hopelessness on youth. This calls for a
careful study of the causes of educated youth unemployment.

Despite of the fact that different scholar conduct a research on the study area, this study was
try to fill the gap of the study area by providing insight on geographical, and conceptual
difference from the former research. Geographically this study was conducted in Dilla town,
conceptually, and this study was revolved only on educated youth unemployment in the study
area.

Therefore, this proposed study was tried to examine the causes of educated youth
unemployment and the live of youths in Dilla town. The study also tries to assess the life of
these educated youths unemployed.

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 1.3 Research Questions

 What are the causes of educated youth unemployment in Dilla town?

 What are the various interrelated challenges that educated unemployed youth
are facing?

 What ways are used by educated unemployed youth to cope up with the
challenges they face?

 What are the views of unemployed educated youth on the possible solution to
reduce the number of educated youth unemployment in the town?

1.4 Objective of the Study

1.4.1 General Objective of the Study

The general objective of this study was to examine the causes of educated youth
unemployment and the live of youths Dilla town.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives of the Study

The Specific objectives of the study were:

 To identify the causes of unemployment for educated youth in Dilla Town.

 To assess the various interrelated challenges that educated unemployed youth are
facing.

 To assess the ways through which educated unemployed youth cope up with the
challenges they face.

 To assess the view of unemployed educated youth on the possible solution to

reduce the number of educated youth unemployment.

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 1.5 Significance of the Study

The finding of this study will have great significance for different bodies in different ways.
This study was performed on to examine the causes of educated youth unemployment and the
live of youths Dilla town. The empirical information that was produce through this study
serves as a basic document for future reference and existing knowledge improvement. On the
basis of the findings, this study was attempted to provide some recommendations that would
help to studies conducted so far on youth unemployment in the study area. Therefore, this
study was useful for policy makers and other stakeholders who involves on similar issue. In
addition to that it was also important to the researcher for fulfilling a knowledge gap about
the study.

1.6 Scope of the study

This study will be focused on unemployed educated youth in Dilla Town whose age is
between the age of 15 up to 29 years and whose level of education range from TVET
certificate to University degree. Despite of the existence of nine kebele in the study area,
geographically this study was confined only in three kebele administration of the town which
is Odaya’a, Sesa and HaroWolabu kebele as a sample. Moreover, the sample size of the study
was 151 educated youth unemployed and also this study has a time scope; this was conducted
on the time 2021.

1.7 Organization of the study

This thesis was organized in five chapters. The first Chapter provided general background of
the study, statements of the problem, objectives of the research, research questions,
significance of the study, scope of the study, and limitation of the study. Chapter two was
presented review of related literature including theoretical, empirical literature and
conceptual framework. Chapter three was described the research methodology of the study;
it consists research design, research approach, source of data, data collection techniques,
target population, sampling techniques and sample size, data analysis and interpretation.
Chapter four was presents the data analysis, interpretation and presentation. Chapter five was
offers major findings, conclusion and recommendations. Finally, references and appendices
were attached.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2. LITERATE REVIEW

In this chapter, theories, concepts, definitions and related works done by different scholars
about unemployment and the causes of educated youth unemployment as well as the
socioeconomic consequence are assessed and discussed.

2.1 Concepts and Working Definition of Terms

2.1.1 Working Definition of Youth and Youth Concepts

Although the UN standard definition of the term “youth” refers to people from aged 15-24
inclusive, in practice the operation of the term among different societies is contested
and it is highly subjected to cultural, social, institutional legal framework and political
factors (O'Higgins,2001). According to him, in most European countries the base for youth
lower age is minimum school-living age, while the upper limit varies widely across countries.
In developing countries where there is no minimum school-leaving age limit the base to
define the term youth entirely depend on the cultural and institutional framework and highly
contextual.

On the other hand, literatures described youth as the life phase to adulthoods. For instance,
UNESCO (2004) noted that despite the use of term youth varies in its implication and age
boundaries from culture to culture, it is widely defined as a transitional concept between
“childhood and adulthood”. It further explains that it is a life phase when people have to face
and negotiate a complex interplay drives from emotional, social and economic changes in the
process. Scholars like Cole (2005) argues that this globalized linear categorization of youth
and youth culture don’t represent all youth. Because of first, youth culture can be mediated
by sociocultural and historical context of the society.

Second, who are youth and what they do is conceptualized from the rich countries
chronological age perspective. Third, for some people progression to adulthood may not be
attainable. The researcher found it relevant to use in this study the term youth as defined in
Ethiopian youth policy document representing the youth between age 15 and 29. Because,
youth with high school to university levels of education falls in this age category. The term
youth and young people have been used interchangeably throughout this paper.

7
 2.1.2 Working Definition of Unemployment
According to Izzi (2013), the ILO definition of unemployment that comprises three
conditions: being without work, currently available for work, and actively seeking for work
has been criticized for its rigidity to accommodate peoples temporarily laid off or peoples
discouraged of job prospects. Therefore, this study has also used a relaxed concept of
unemployment that includes not only persons without work, currently available for work
and actively seeking for jobs, but also those who wish to work but discouraged to actively
seek for work.

2.1.3 Working Definition of Educated

There is no clear definition of the term educated but it’s widely defined as a person having an
education especially having an education beyond the average. Thus this study is much more
concerned on those youths who have college diploma and university degree and also included
those who have TVET certificate.

2.2 Definition and Concept of Unemployment

Like any other markets the labor market has both supply and demand sides. The supply side
is the labor force or the economically active population which comprises of both the
employed and the unemployed. The demand side, on the other hand, consists of jobs/filled
posts and job vacancies/unfilled posts (WB, 2007). The prevailing situation in countries
around the world is the demand for labor is less than the supply thus, there is an
excess supply of labor. This gap between the supply and demand for labor is referred to as
unemployment (Deribe, et al. 2015).

The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines the unemployed as numbers of the
economically active population who are without work but available for and seeking work
including people who have lost their jobs and those who have voluntarily left work (WB,
2007).

Most scholars argued that the strict definition of unemployment doesn’t capture all peoples
that are not in the employment but want to take employment. According to Clark and
Summers (1982), because of unemployed youth who have been laid off from actively
searching jobs doesn’t considered by labor statistics, statistical picture of the labor market
and the unemployment definition implies high rates of labor force withdrawal. This definition
also downsizes the true picture of youth unemployment duration because of the increased
number of discouraged youth excluded from the labor force. Therefore the authors concluded

8
that the distinct line drawn between unemployment and labor force withdrawal doesn't reflect
the reality young people are currently facing to enter the labor market.

Correspondingly, Belchamber and Schetagne (2013) argued that unemployment concept is

problematic. particularly in the sense that house workers (those engaged in household
activities) are neither counted in the labor force and nor in unemployed. According to the
authors to labeling peoples those that are keeping families afloat as economically inactive is
both wrong and offensive. As a result, strict definition of unemployment doesn’t fully capture
the real picture of unemployment in developing countries. In these countries the labor market
for youth is characterized by irregular youth employment, working poor underemployment
and informal sector employment.

Therefore, according to Clark and Summers (1982), relaxed definition of unemployment

(where actively seeking for job criterion is not mandatory for inclusion) can indicate the
severity of unemployment. The author stated that, when relaxed definition of unemployment
is applied, the unemployment rate doubles in many low-income economies and also the
average relaxed unemployed rate in least developed economies often come out even higher
than that of the high income economies.

This is because the strict concept of unemployment excludes many people’s from the labor
force and in some cases it considers precarious work as employment.

As Belchamber and Schetagne (2013), the report of labor statistics, which usually shows
lower and stable unemployment in those countries where more than 80% of the population
are engaged in subsistence economy, is misleading. Because in reality, these people get little
or no benefit from their engagements of the subsistence production.

Therefore, to address this problem the 19th International Conference of Labor Statistician
(ICLS) has revised the concept and definition of unemployment (ILO, 2013). This revised
concept of unemployment broadens the labor force sphere and reflects the current precarious
and underemployment reality encountered most youth in developing countries. For most
youth who are working in the informal sector, as Donahoe and Tienda (1999), put income
prospects if employment prospects are miserable. This means that for these young people
employment is insignificant as it fails to provide means of living.

9
 2.3 Different Theories of Unemployment
Unemployment in general and youth unemployment in particular is a problem that affects
most countries. Because of this it has given the main concern both by developing and
developed countries and become the main issue in the economy, social and politics of both
Northern and Southern world. Worldwide employment opportunities and other social goods
for young people have been affected largely by the effects of globalization, the neoliberal
economic and social reforms and labor market transformation (Jeffrey, 2010).

Atchoarena (2000) stated that in developed countries, because of prevailing of structural

unemployment for the population at large makes the situation more sever. According to him
youth unemployment in developed countries has sharply risen in the last two decades both in
absolute term and relative to adults. He also stated that youth unemployment also has risen in
the developing countries which are perceived to have lower rate of unemployment.

According to the author, sustained population growth, social disintegration, slow growth of
economic development and education system has contributed to the poor integration of youth
to work in these countries.

On the other hand, Jeffrey ( 2009) revealed that youth unemployment In developing
countries particularly educated youth unemployment is the result of the combination of
the rise in parent investment on education, the inclusion of schooling of formerly
excluded groups and the shortage of wages employment opportunity. According to him ,
the rise in the surplus of experienced and qualified workers has increased competition
to enter the labor market. in addition the fact that the absence of suitable jobs that forced
qualified young people to accept lower jobs in the occupational hierarchy has brought about
the filtering occurrence that contributed to replace poorly qualified workers in the process,
which ultimately worsen the unemployment incidence among poorly qualified young people
(Atchoarena, 2000). Lack of working experiences of the majority of young people who strive
to enter the labor market for the first time without developing employability skills also
matters (Thompson, 2013).The author stated that the apprenticeship programs in which
young people will get acquaintances with the world of works through combining work with
education are limited or missing.

There are so many unemployment theories which are widely used by different scholars as a
reference. The most widely used unemployment theories in different literatures are (1)

10
Human capital theory (2) Monetarism theory (3) Market liberal theory and (4) Marxist theory
of unemployment

2.3.1 Human Capital Theory

From the perspectives of human capital theory, the perceived employability of individual
can either be determined by the conditions of the labor market that offer different
opportunities to the individual and the resource possession of employee. Of these two
alternatives of the employability determinants, the human capital theory deals with the
individual resources option particularly the individual’s efforts to invest in education and
trainings (Berntson et al. 2006).

Becker (1993) argues that for individual’s human capital development, training and education
are the most important investment to be made. Because the return to training investment can
be visualized in the form of higher income, effective performance and improved health and
acquiring better career positions. The human capital developed from work experiences and
competency development may contribute to higher earnings, better chance of promotions and
acquiring better position (Judge et al. 1995 cited in Berntson et al. 2006). In his earlier work
on investment in human capital analysis Becker found out that among other things
individuals wage is positively related to the level of skills they possessed, and the probability
of unemployment for individual is tend to be negatively correlated to the level of skills
acquired (Becker, 1962).

Longer time education engagement and subsequent increment in labor market participation
could provide youth greater opportunities for upward social mobility and autonomy (Naafs,
2012).The perceived image of education as a strategy to move up the social ladder and the
imagined linkage of extended years of schooling to white-collar jobs have encouraged parents
to invest their resources in a formal education. Although education for most youth of
developing countries has been recognized as a means of self-improvement, the opportunities
for those groups to benefit economically from this inclusion is getting slim (Jeffrey, 2009).
This is because; in many cases education has failed to realize the young people’s employment
expectations and desire for upward social mobility. However, in developing countries young
people continue to place their hope of prolonging their participation in schooling to find
professional jobs despite many of them remain waiting for a longer period of time before they
secure paid jobs (Jeffrey, 2009).

11
The return to training investment in developing countries is poor due to primarily the slow
growth of the skilled labor demand in poor economy. Other factors such as poor
administration, the level of training capacity, the quantity and quality of training, and the
economic policies that do not favor incentives to firms have contributed to reduce the returns
to training investment (Middleton et al. 1993).

On the other hand UNESCO (2012) highlighted that the other major challenges currently
affecting urban youth employment opportunities in developing countries is the less attention
given to entrepreneurial skill development in urban settings.

2.3.2 Marxist Theory of Unemployment

According to Marx unemployment exists as a result of the capitalist system itself and
gradually worsens. He did not believe that in the long-term capitalist economies could be
managed to eliminate unemployment, nor did he think that market forces would reduce
unemployment their own consensus (Tesfaye, 2015).

However, he did not believe that capitalist economy always had and would have high level of
unemployment. He believed that such economies are going through cycles. Periods of
expansion in which there was full employment were followed by periods of crisis during
which unemployment rose. Each successive crisis would be worse than the previous one until
eventually the capitalist system was destroyed. To Marx, this situation cannot continue
indeterminately. Workers would eventually realize they are being exploited, develop class
consciousness, and overthrow the capitalist system. Clearly, Marx’s predictions that
capitalism would collapse have not come true. Indeed the economic system of some
communist countries seems closer to collapse than that of most advanced capitalist countries.

However, capitalist economies have not proved as manageable as economists like Keynes
believed. “Governments have not been able to manipulate economies in such a way that mass
unemployment has become a thing of the past” (Tesfaye, 2015).

2.3.3 Market Liberal Theory

During much of the period since 1945 it was accepted by Labor and Conservative
governments alike that the government could and should maintain low levels of
unemployment.

It was consequently the duty of the government to manage demand in the economy, an
increase in government spending could cut unemployment. Successive governments were

12
committed to a mixed economy. Government control over key industries would allow the
government to manipulate the economy so that mass unemployment could be avoided
(Deribe et al. 2015)

In the 1970s the consensus about broad economic policy was eroded. Governments faced the
problem of rising inflation as well as rising unemployment. Measures designed to reduce
unemployment could lead to increased inflation (Deribe et al. 2015).

2.3.4 Monetarism Theory

The government could reduce or even eliminate the problem by reducing the money supply
that is, allowing less money to circulate in the economy. This necessitated cutting back on
government spending and not expanding it as Keynes advocated. The government could not
reduce unemployment below the natural rate without causing excessive inflation unless there
were other fundamental economic changes (Deribe et al. 2015).

The natural rate of unemployment was affected by such factors as the level of unemployment
benefit and the flexibility of wage rates. The unemployed would be prepared to work for
lower wages in order to get a job and at lower wage rates it would be profitable for employers
to take workers on. The demand for and supply of labor would come into balance and
unemployment would disappear. Economist pointed out that there was not, in reality, a totally
free market in labor Unions could use their power to drive up wages artificially high, and
unemployment benefits would discourage people from working for low wages. Other
important factors would be the mobility of the labor force and the availability and cost of
information about job vacancies (Tesfaye, 2015).

2.4 Youth Unemployment Nature, Trend and Experiences in Urban Ethiopia

Now a day, many countries in the world forced to give much more attention to facilitate
smooth school to work transition because of the fact that the share of youth unemployment
often higher in the prime working age (Brouser and Tekelesilassie, 2012).

A study conducted on the nature of youth urban unemployment in Ethiopia has confirmed
that unemployment in urban Ethiopia is higher among relatively better trained youth. These
youth joined the labor market for the first-time with the aspiration of acquiring jobs in the
public sector and remained unemployed on average greater than a year or even more years for
those waiting for a white-collar job. However, the prevalence of unemployment and

13
unemployment durations are higher among youth from family with poorer household welfare
(Serneels, 2007).

The incidence of unemployment among educated youth attributed to inherent education

system orientation that shapes the aspiration and attitude of young people towards certain
jobs. According to camfiled (2011), the increased number of educated youth in the recent
years has also intensified jobs entry competition in the labor market among youth. According
to her, the reduction of public sectors as a result of structural adjustment imposition has also
shrunk the job pool and broke the direct linkage of education and employment. In his work
on urban youth unemployment in Ethiopia, Mains (2007) suggests that while there is a neo
liberal capitalism implication for the young people’s current employment difficulties, it is
also important to examine various local experiences, cultural practices and values and social
interaction to fully understand the cause of youth unemployment and their unemployment
experiences.

According to CSA (2013) national labor force survey data, youth unemployment rate in urban
areas was 21.3 % in 2013. The rate was 26.4% for females and 16.1% for males in the same
year.

This means that youth unemployment rate was much higher than average country’s
unemployment rate for the general population 4.5 %, average national youth unemployment
rate 6.8 % and urban average unemployment rate 16.5 % (CSA, 2013).

According to the survey the rate of unemployment in Dilla Town was 18.1% much
higher than average urban unemployment rates 16.5% of the country. The situation is
exacerbated by rural- urban migration (BOFED, 2013). According to BOFED, the trend of
youth unemployment in Dilla Town was somehow declined between 2009 and 2011. But
from 2011 onwards it has started slightly rising. The reason for the rise of youth
unemployment rates in addition to rural urban migration can be the prevailing of excess
graduates from colleges and universities.

2.5 School to Work Transition of Youth in Ethiopia

Prior to 1991 the centrally administrated employment exchange office was responsible for
recruitment in the formal sector where the available vacancies of all the employers mainly
government sectors were polled. First time jobseekers particularly college and university
graduates were required to register with the employment exchange office to be benefited

14
from public sector employment guarantee system (Marta, 2012). According to the Author,
with the coming of the new government, EPRDF to power the new labor law was
reformulated in 1993 in which the employment guarantee system was abolished and market
based decentralized recruitment and employment procedures were implemented. The rise in
the number of educated youth has made labor market entry difficult due to increased
competition among youth for limited available jobs. In developing countries as Adams
(2007) explains with the implementation of Education for All programs, youth education
attainments have risen. This has brought changes in the labor market entry patterns in those
countries. In Ethiopia with the removal of centrally coordinated jobs seeker registration
services, the benefit of getting employment information was wiped out (Brihanu et al. 2005).
Therefore the labor market information system has become poor and there is a weak labor
organization system in the country which largely affects youth employment (MoLSA 2009 in
Edukans Foundation 2012).

Currently the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) is responsible for public
employment services at the federal level and the regional Bureaus of Labor and Social Affairs
(BoLSA) is mandated with the regional employment services. The Micro and Small
Enterprises (MSEs) development office in urban areas and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and
Culture (MoYSC) also play roles in the current urban youth employment services (Beshir,
2014).

2.6 Indications of Educated Youth Unemployment Pressure in Ethiopia

According to Broussar and Tekelesilassie (2012) and Brihanu et al. (2005), with a higher
proportion of youth comprising 28 % of the total population in the demographic nature of
Ethiopia and the inadequate employment growth to absorb the increased number of educated
youth creates high number of educated unemployed youth. For instance, Ministry of
Education published statistical abstract data indicated that between 2009 and 2013 secondary
school and university enrollment has grown with annual average rates of 9.5 % and 15.5 %
respectively (MoE, 2013).The work of Broussar and Tekelesilassie also supported this fact in
stating that the percentage of youth with a higher education qualification rose from 4 % in
1999 to 20 % in 2011 (Broussar and Teklesilassie, 2012). Despite of the fact that the
government promotes the idea of self-employment through skill based training, TVET
enrollment has declined from 308,501 in 2009 to 237,877 in 2013 (MoE, 2013).

15
As the report the main reason for this to happen was that some of the public owned TVET
institutions such as agricultural TVET colleges stopped their services and transferred to the
nearby universities while others are even closed (Beshir,2014).

The decline in the number of TVET enrollments inevitably will affect the realization of self-
employment and job creations currently the government and its media promoting. Oktech
(2007) suggests that carrier oriented TVET program is essential to enhance employment
opportunity of youth.

2.7 Educated youth Unemployment Trends in Dilla Town

According to CSA (2013), the unemployment rate for youth with secondary education is the
highest among all level of education attainments however over the last three years it has
declined for both sexes. The report indicates that this is due to the growing of job
opportunities, particularly labor intensive jobs in the formal and informal sectors. For youth
with certificate level of education, unemployment rate is generally the second highest in the
group followed by college diploma holders. Unemployment rates for people with a college
diploma and university degree have been rising in the last three years (CSA, 2013). As UN
(2005) reported that current skilled labor supply surpass the available employment
opportunities in many countries.

Broussar and Tekelesilassie (2012) revealed that in Ethiopia educated unemployment is the
result of the imbalance growth between the labor market demands that require skilled labor
and the rise of youth educational attainments. Besides educating youth has lesser time to be
integrated with the labor market, compare to less educated ones who begin their transition to
work at an earlier age and have had more exposure to labor market (Broussar and
Tekelesilassie, 2012). It is important to note that educated unemployment in Ethiopia is
generally a new phenomenon therefore; it is not surprising to see that the unemployment rate
is lower for relatively educated youth, despite it is rising.

2.8 The Causes of Educated youth Unemployment

Most researchers identified several causes of urban youth unemployment in their findings.
Tesfaye (2015) revealed that lack of education and lack of work habit is a major cause for
youth unemployment.

In addition to this, Nebil, et al. (2010) also identified poor economic performance of the
country and higher rural urban migration as a main cause for youth unemployment. As the

16
authors identified, there can be several reasons for unemployment in urban setting but in this
paper the following reasonwhich consider to be crucial are examined in some detail.

2.8.1 Education and youth Unemployment

One of the causes for educated youth unemployment is the failure of educational system to
prepare people for work. Nebil et al. (2010) revealed on their study that low level of
education is a cause for unemployment. According to them Education is a means for
enhancing the productivity and employability of a country’s labor force as it has a positive
influence on occupational type. On their conclusion more-educated workers are much more
likely to be in wage employment and much less likely to be in unpaid work than their less-
educated counterparts. Similarly to this, Tesfaye (2015), also stated that education And
unemployment have negative relationship. On his conclusion he said that “because if you
want a good job, get a good education, because the chance to have employment is high”.

On the other hand, contrary to Nebil et al. and Tesfayes conclusion, Serneels (2007) stated
unemployment is highly concentrated among the relatively well-educated youth. Similarly
Broussar and Tekelesilassie (2012) indicated that educational attainment and unemployment
have positive relationships. Their conclusion is that youth with higher education were less
likely to be unemployed in 1999 than they were in 2011. This suggests that labor demand has
been unable to keep pace with the increases in educational attainment, particular with jobs
which demand highly skilled labor.

Correspondingly, Teshome (1998) revealed that the system of education is more of

theoretical or academic than vocational or technical. This doesn’t prepare the young for
productive employment. Thousands who annually fail the Ethiopian school leaving certificate
examination (ESLCE) join the ranks of unemployment thus inflating the unemployment rate.

In 1999 a report made by MEDAC has some over view of the Ethiopian education system,
that traditionally the Ethiopian educational system has little concern about the condition
of students after leaving school. That is why the mismatch between the qualification of the
students and the demand of employers has become a serious issue with the growing
unemployment of educated youth in the country (MEDAC, 1999 cited in Getamesay, 2009).

2.8.2 Economic Situation of the Country

According to Nebil et al. (2010), poor economic situation of a country is a major problem for
most developing countries such as Ethiopia. Low economic growth, which is manifested in

17
low economic activity and low investment, entails low overall job creation. The Authors
stated that a country with poor economic performance failed in creating sufficient
employment for the existing labor forces of their country as a result they couldn’t use their
human resource effectively and efficiently which in turn affect the economy to be stayed in a
poor situation. Broussar and Tekelesilassie (2012) also revealed that stagnating economies to
be one of the major factors behind the cause of high youth unemployment in Africa. The
authors explained that young people are facing difficulty to be employed largely due to the
stagnated formal sector. As a result youth with school graduates will have been staying at
home without gainful or productive employment. As the authors, most African countries
plagued with rapid population growth and stagnating economic. This is the case for Ethiopia,
where the population growth is increasing time to time while the economy of the country
couldn’t grow with the pace of the growth of population. Although Ethiopia has been
registered annual growth rate more than 10 % since the last few years, the creation of job
opportunities still challenging for the government to address the problem of unemployment in
all parts of the region as a result of poor economic performance (Broussar and Tekelesilassie,
2012).

2.8.3 Lack of Entrepreneurship Skill

Good entrepreneurship skill training is useful for all youths for creating their own business
and to be self-employed rather than waiting a job from the government. According to UN
Habitat (2003 ), cited in Nebil et al. (2010), most people are motivated to start their own
businesses and create their own employment because the chances of finding jobs in the
current labor market where the availability of employment opportunities are so limited.
However, starting a small business without the capacity to sustain it or cope with other
related challenges is not a possible solution to the problem of unemployment.

2.8.4 Skill Mismatch between the Supply and the Demand of Labor
Mismatch of education and training skills with the requirements of the labor market is
another important reason for the high level of youth unemployment especially for those
youths that are educated. A study of unemployment in urban areas by Birhanu et al. (2005)
revealed an increase in unemployment rates of young people who have attained high school
or a higher educational level. Similarly the report of CSA (2013) also revealed that, even
though unemployment rates for the general youth population and urban youth population has
declined from 11.1% and 33% in 1999 to 6.8% and 20% in 2013 respectively, unemployment
rates for youth with higher education has risen from 2% to 7.5% . The reason for the

18
increment of educated unemployment could be due to a mismatch between the type of
education provided at schools and the requirements of the labor market.

2.8.5 Rural-Urban Migration

Several studies show that rural-urban migration is at a very root of high level of urban
unemployment. This is an aversion response to the prevalent poor socio-economic condition
of the rural areas (Okonjo, 1974; Adepoju, 1986 cited in Raphael, 2005).

The reports of ILO (1996) noted that, since migration is a selective process which tends to
include those who are in the prime age group, it causes excess prevalence of unemployed
youths in the urban setting. The continuous and wide spread urban and rural poverty makes
urban centers of developing countries vulnerable to massive migration if living conditions
worsen in rural areas (ILO, 1996).

Rural-urban migration exacerbates rural-urban structural imbalance in the supply and demand
sides on the supply side. Internal migration increases the number of urban job seekers while
depleting labor force of the country side. On the demand side, urban job creation is more
difficult to accomplish than rural job creation (Todaro, 1997).

Unemployment is most severe in urban areas of Ethiopia due to rural-urban migration. Many
people who live in rural areas leave their places of origin in search of better opportunities for
employment. As a result of the high rate of rural urban migration unemployment problem
become the urban phenomena of the country.

2.8.6 Population Growth

Increasing rate of population growth is another factor affecting scarcity of job opportunities.
Less developed countries have witnessed rapid population growth with slower economic
growth rate in the past three decades. Urban centers of less developed countries are the
growth poles of economic progress and centers of political and social unrest. This situation is
more sever in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), where urban population growth remains the highest
in the world (Todaro, 1997).

The population of Ethiopia is increasing in alarming rate since the last few decades the size of
the labor force has been increasing at an average annual rate of 3.2% Nebil et al. (2010).
Therefore, according to the authors, poor countries like Ethiopia, where its economic
performance is poor as a result demand for labor has a slower and couldn’t absorb the existed
human resource with the higher growing population worsen the situation of unemployment.

19
 2.9 The Effects of Educated youth Unemployment
Unemployment has severe effects on unemployed individual themselves on their families on
the community, and on the country as a whole.

2.9.1 Impact of Unemployment on Individuals

Unemployment always hits individuals the hardest. Most unemployed educated youths are
highly suffered from lack of income. They economically depended on their family’s friends
and on their relatives to cover their different expenses. Educated youth with unemployment,
ashamed themselves because, they depended on their families while they expected to support
them. And they believed that they don’t equally participate in the families and community
affairs, and they are not important as long as they have nothing to contribute to their families
and communities.

Unemployed youth from poor families did not have more options in which they can engage to
pass their free time. Because many places and options where youth can spend their free time
such as watching cinema and theater, playing games, passing time in the cafeteria with their
friends and using social media such as internet usually incur costs which is unaffordable for
most of them. Consequently, they are more likely suffered from depression, loneliness and
mental stresses. As Kielbach and Traiser (2002) in their analysis of the relationship between
unemployment and ill-health found out that, unemployed youth suffer from feelings of
vulnerability, inferiority, worthlessness, uselessness and depression. Moreover, they could
also be socially stigmatized for being unemployed. Altogether, these affect their self-esteem
that leads to social exclusion.

Similarly Paul and Moser (2009) revealed unemployment have stronger negative
psychological and mental effects on people of lower social status.

2.9.2 Impact of Educated youth Unemployment on the Community and Economy

Educated youth unemployment has a significant impact on society and the economy as a
whole. The main impact of educated youth unemployment on the economy is withholding of
the productive power who could be contributes for economic growth of their country. In
terms of social implications arising from wide scale unemployment, consideration initially
should be given to the fact that the hardest hit will be those unemployed families that are in
poor livelihood welfare (Gilles, 2000).

20
According to the study made by Namke et al. (2008), with high level of urban youth
unemployment there is significant upward pressure on acquisitive crime (theft, robbery and
burglary). The author stated that, over the last year many police forces have measured an
increase in those crimes, indicating that higher levels of youth unemployment have already
had a detrimental effect on crime in society. Since, unemployed population is dependent on
the employed population; it has direct cost to the government in the form of any
unemployment benefits paid to the unemployed and in lost tax earnings. Covering these
unemployed benefits through increased taxes or borrowing creates a serious problem on the
economy of the country.

The increased taxes suppress consumption, which in turn may lead to increased
unemployment (people spending less, less revenues for companies, companies forced to
lay people off). Increased borrowing by the government can have similar effects as the
government takes more money than normally out of the financial markets, thus having an
upwards pressure on interest rates, which results in higher cost for companies, less profits
and more layoffs (Effie, 2010).

Unemployment is basically always bad for the economy; however, it can never be zero. This
is because at any one point in time there will be individuals who are truly between jobs, even
for as little as a week or a month. The ‘normal’ unemployment figure will vary from country
to country, but is generally considered to be around 2-3 percent of the workforce (ibid,
2010).The author stated that when unemployment reaches two digits (10% or more) and large
number of unemployed enjoy long term unemployment, it is very dangerous and we all suffer
from unemployment whether employed or not .

2.10 The Cause of Educated Youth Unemployment and the Lives of Youths

2.10.1 Conceptual Frame Work

As it is reviewed in the above literature high rate of educated youth unemployment is related
with various factors. According to the review, economic factors (poor economy of the
country and problem with the education system), demographic factors (natural increase and
net migration) and cultural factors (job selection attitudes) have a direct effect on the size of
the unemployed and rate of educated unemployment. In return high level of educated youth
unemployment has its own socio economic impact on the individuals and community. Thus,
based on the above review of related literature and specific objective of the study, the
following conceptual frame work, that consists of causes of educated youth unemployment

21
and the lives of youths. And such systematic investigation of identifying the major causes of
educated unemployment and its socio economic effects would lead to designing appropriate
policy interventions. Finally there is a need of an appropriate policy and intervention by the
government and different stakeholders to reduce this problem were developed in order to
organize our knowledge systematically and too see the cause and effect relationship of
different factors.

Figure 1: Conceptual Frame work on the Cause of Educated Youth Unemployment and The
Lives of Youth

- Poor economy of the

country
- Rural urban
migration
- Poor
entrepreneurship
skills Educated Youth The live of
Unemployment In youths
- Mismatch between
training and Dilla Town

requirements of jobs
- Population pressure
- State failure to create
employment
Opportunity

The need for Appropriate action and

Interventions by all concerned bodies

22
Source own data 2021

CHAPTER THREE

3 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Description of the study area
3.1.2 Geographical Location and Area

Dilla is the administrative town of the Gedeolocated in Southern Nation, Nationalities, and
People Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia at a distance of 359 km from the capital city, Addis
Ababa, on the way from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. It is located at 6° 22’ to 6° 42’ N and 38°
21’ to 38° 41’ E longitude with an altitude of an elevation of 1570 meters above sea level
(Figure 1). The mean annual daily maximum and minimum air temperature is 28.4 and
12.8°C, respectively (Demelash, 2010). According to the recent population program report of
the Gedeo Zone Bureau ofFinance and Economic Development, the total area of the town is
7.16 Km2.

23
Figure 2: Map of the Study Area (source CSA, 2014)

3.1.2 Administrative Units of the City

Dilla is one of a market town in southern Ethiopia. It is located at around 360 km south of
Addis Ababa in Gedeo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region. It is
the major and second highest town in the region. Dilla was established in 1904 as a center of
trade mainly for coffee market but it was organized under the municipality administration
since 1937. Currently the town is divided in to 3 sub-cities (Bedecha, Sesa and Harowolabo)
with 9 kebeles, 15 sub- kebeles and 77 villages.

3.1.3 Climate of the Town

Like any other part of the country there are four seasons in the town: Bega (December,
January and February), Belg (March, April and May), Kiremf(June,July, and August) and

24
Tsedey(September, October, and November). The mean annual rainfall received is 142.4mm
and the mean annual temperature is l7.4℃. The maximum and minimum mean annual
temperature is 25.8 and l2.2 ℃ respectively.

3.1.4 Population of Town

Dilla is one of the most highly populated towns in Ethiopia. According to the 2007 census
preliminary result Dilla ranks as the 2nd highest next to Hawassa in the size of population with
in the region. The population in 2007 was 81,644 for both sexes, 42,599 for males and 39,045
for females. The majority of the inhabitants were practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity,
with 41.65% of the population reporting that belief, 39.2% were protestants, 15.93% were
Muslim, and 2.68% were Catholic(CSA, 2008).

3.1.5 Water Supply and Sanitation

The administrative center of Gedeo zone, Dilla town, is growing rapidly in recent years as a
result of increased trade and being a major transit center, main passage of goods from Kenya.
On the other hand, the provision of urban water is clearly observed as a critical challenge in
the town. Presently, the town is supplied with water by two different water sources. The first
one is Legendary River and the other one is ground water from which six boreholes are
developed. The data obtained from Dilla Town Water Supply Service Enterprise (DTWSSE)
showed that the production capacities of the boreholes are 13.5 l/s (Millennium), 5 l/s
(Chichu number 1), 6 l/s (Chichu number 2) with the three new ones producing 8 l/s each. In
addition, there are 36 public stand pipes in the different parts of the town that supply water
for those households that do not have access to piped connections (DTWSSE, 2016).

3.1.6 Economic Activities of the Town

Dilla had been located in the southern end of the all-weather road from Addis Ababa until the
completion in the early 1970s of the asphalt road to the Kenya border. Dilla was the major
transfer and marketing point for coffee grown farther south, particularly of the much-prized
Yirgachefe varietals. It remains a major center of the coffee trade.

The study area is also known for practicing agro forestry. Most of this area is covered with
perennial cash and food crops that accounts for 82.13%. The remaining 8.54% is covered
with annual crops and 3.96, 2.57 and 2.13% land is covered with bush, grazing land and other

25
types. This area is commonly known for its cash crops like coffee and fruits and food crops
like enset, maize, sorghum, teff, and barley. Shortage of land is the peculiar nature of this
area, resulting in diversified cropping practices on small plot of land.

3.2 Research Methodology

3.1.2 Research design

Research design provides the basic direction for carrying out a research project to obtain
answer to research questions. It is a master plan specifying the method and procedures for
collecting and analyzing the need of information. Research design is needed because it
facilitates the smooth sailing of the various research operations, thereby making research as
efficient as possible yielding maximal information with minimal expenditure of effort, time
and money (Kothari, 2004:32). It helps the study to be relevant to the problem and it uses
economical procedures. The study will be conducted to examine the causes of educated
youth unemployment and the live of youths in Dilla town. Thus, a cross sectional survey
design will be used since it enables the researcher to describe the current status of an area of
the study.

3.2.2 Data Type and Source of Data

Both qualitative and quantitative research approach and primary and secondary types of data
will be employed in this study. The importance of collecting and considering primary and
secondary as well as qualitative and quantitative data will be used to triangulate and
supplement the diverse data generated from different sources which in return is used to make
the data and the result of the research reliable.

In order to gather reliable information, both primary and secondary data sources will be
employed. The data will be collected primarily from first hand sources through in-depth
interviews, focus group discussion and direct field observation. The secondary data will be

26
gathered from official statistical sources (like- BOLSA, MOFED, CSA, MOE, publications
and municipal documents), books, journals, internet sources, research findings of various
scholars on the topic under investigation, and other publications.

3.2.3 Sampling Techniques

The population of this study will be unemployed youth living in Dilla, The selection of the
three kebele administrations from the town for this study is purposely done for the reason
that if urban area is to provide leadership and show way in formulating and implementing
strategies to enable the process for local level productive urban youth employment, it would
have to come from any of urban centers with big educated unemployed youth population or
where there is widespread educated youth unemployment like Dilla. Since the focus of the
study is on educated unemployed youth, the sample will be unemployed urban youth (15-29
ages) whose level of education ranges from general secondary school completion to
university graduate (undergraduate). This study will employ purposive sampling (snow ball
sampling) to select informants with different background (gender, levels of education, age
composition and duration of unemployment, etc.). Unemployed youth with at least one year
duration of unemployment will be included. The sample size will be determined based on the
principle of data saturation.

3.3 Data Collection Methods and Procedures

3.3.1 Primary Data Collection

In this study, primary data will be collected from sample respondents. The primary data will
be both quantitative and qualitative data in nature. The researcher will collected the primary
data at the time of direct field survey, in depth interviews, and focus group discussion.

3.3.1.1 In-depth Interviews

The purpose of interview will be to capture how participants view the phenomena of urban
educated youth unemployment. Educated unemployed youth will actively participate in the
in-depth interview sessions to capture their perceptions regarding the immediate socio-
cultural and wider political-economic contexts in which urban educated youth unemployment
is located and reproduced, the challenges that educated unemployed youth face and the
complex ways though which they try to negotiate these challenges in their struggle to find job
and attain economic independence. Therefore, this study will address these issues in the

27
context of urban areas of Southern Ethiopia; taking Dilla, as case study. Besides, a total of 12
key informant interviews will be held. Representatives of experts and officials form city
administration offices, Labor and Social Affairs Offices, Women, Children and Youth Affairs
Bureau, Civil Service Bureau, Micro and Small Scale Enterprise Agencies, education and
police offices will participate in this study as key informants. During the interview,
participants will be asked to reflect on the conditions that accounts for educated youth
unemployment, the challenges that educated unemployed youth face and the ways though
which they try to negotiate these challenges including institutional responses to educated
urban youth unemployment.

3.3.1.2 Focus group discussions

Another data collection method that will be used in this research is focus group discussion
(FGD). FGDs will have the potential of empowering research participants (representatives of
experts and officials from Dilla, and , Labor and Social Affairs Office, Women, Children and
Youth Affairs Bureau, Civil Service Bureau, Micro and Small Scale Enterprise Agencies,
education and police offices) to steer the discussions and thus take an active part in the
production of knowledge. Focus group participants will be selected by a purposive sampling
technique (based on their experience and knowledge on the subject at hand). Different FGDs
(12 in numbers will be conducted at different stages of the research. Focus group discussions
will be used to obtain data about the socio-cultural and political-economy structure in which
educated youth unemployment is located, the various challenges that educated unemployed
youth are facing and the ways though which educated unemployed youth try to negotiate
these challenges including institutional responses to the problem.

3.3.1.3 Direct field observation

Field observation is one primary data collection tools that will be employed for this research.
We adopted this method because we need a first-hand view of the phenomena of educated
youth unemployment. We need observing educated youth unemployment in its ‘real world’
or natural setting and communicating directly with educated unemployed youth in their own
language, provide opportunity to make research subjects feel at ease and confident to relay
their experiences and understandings of informal land transformation: its drivers, process,
and the problems and challenges associated with it. Particularly, visiting the spaces where

28
educated unemployed youth gather to pass the time will also help us to capture the diverse
backgrounds of educated unemployed youth in Dilla,

3.3.2 Secondary Data Collection

The secondary sources of data will be gathered from official statistical resources (like-
MOFED, BOFED, CSA, MOE publications and municipal documents), Additional secondary
data and information will be used from other online and published sources of the World Bank
and ILO country reports, journals, project reports, proceedings, internet sources, research
findings of various scholars on the topic under investigation, and other publications produced
on youth unemployment in Ethiopia were consulted and referred.

3.4 Data Analysis

The process of data analysis involves the search for things that lie under the surface of the
data and targets the core elements that explain what these things are and how they work
(Denscombe, 2007). In this study, content analysis methods will used to analyze the
qualitative data so as to capture the complex and multifaceted reality of urban educated youth
unemployment and its implication for policy. Narration will be at core of data analysis. All
the interviews and discussions were transcribed to aid in the final analysis of the data. Once
the empirical material was gathered, we will made inventory of the data collected. In
qualitative data analysis it is necessary to search for themes of relevance to the research topic
under which data from different sources can be organized. To this end, we will re-read the
transcribed data and field notes line-by- line (highlighted key words, phrases, sentences and
paragraphs) and list the patterns of experience from it. This process will be followed by
varying degree of abstraction of concepts based on the participants’ own words and
phrases.The stories and transcripts that were found to be generally ‘representative’ (Tatek,
2008) were used in the analysis and write-up. Document analyses of past studies, policy and
legal documents and other related research documents on urban educated youth
unemployment in the Ethiopian context will also be incorporated and used as main inputs to
the study. In addition, analysis of the quantitative data will be done using simple descriptive
statistics.

29
3.5 Ethical Considerations

Ethical clearance for the study will be obtained from Dilla University. During the study, full
information will be given to the participants on the purpose of the research and only those
youth who are willing to participate in the study will be enrolled as the respondents of the
study. Confidentiality of the information obtained from the participant will be maintained
strictly.

30
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 Tesfaye Legesse. (2015). Challenges and opportunities of youth unemployment: the

case of Burayu town. Master's thesis Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa

 UNDP (2013 Annual report on Ethiopian economy. Yemane T(1967). Statistics: An

introductory Analysis, 2nd Ed: New York.

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Appendix One
DILLA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Dear Respondent, the owner of this interview is Candidate for MA in Dilla University. We
are doing this research for partial fulfillment of MA in Geography and Environmental
Studies. This questionnaire is prepared to collect data for the research topic entitled
“to examine the causes of educated youth unemployment and the live of youths Dilla
town” for partial fulfillment of MA in Geography and Environmental Studies. The research
was providing information on current practice in the causes of educated youth unemployment
and the live of youths Dilla town.

The purpose of the thesis is purely academic. Hence, I will assure you that it will have no any
negative effect on you as an individual or on your organization. The effectiveness of the
study depends on your genuine and frank response which will be kept confidential. I,
therefore, request you to fill the questionnaire honestly and frankly. I would like to thank you
for your kind Cooperation in advance.

Thank in advance

Interview with Graduate Unemployed Youth

I. Information about unemployment

1. Tell me about being unemployed after graduation.
2. How do you describe your attitude in job securing before and after graduation
3. Please describe the financial and motivational support you get from your families.
4. Describe your feeling while requesting financial support from your family repeatedly.
5. Would you describe the challenges you encountered from your friends?
6. Tell me about how you spend your time.
7. Please describe youth center in your surroundings.
8. Any point you would like to add?
II. Job Searching Experiences of The Youth
1. Please describe special experience you encountered during job application

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2. How do you regularly follow vacancies?
3. Please describe your expectation on job searching before and after graduation.
4. Would you describe your experience of engaging in MSEs and entrepreneurship?
5. Describe your experience engaging in underemployment.
6. Any point you would like to add?
III. Causes and impacts of graduate youth unemployment
1. Tell me what are the major causes of graduate unemployment
2. Describe the social exclusion you encountered due to your status of unemployment.
3. Please describe psychological problems you faced for being unemployed.
4. Would you describe any health problems you faced after being unemployed.
5. Please describe the correlation between unemployment and engage in addiction.
6. Please describe the correlation between unemployment and illegal migration.
7. Tell me the impact of graduate unemployment on the family, society and economy of
the country.
8. Any point you would like to add.

IV. Efforts of government employ to curb graduate youth unemployment

1. How do you describe MSEs implementation in your sub city?
2. Describe your volunteerism and free services in government and non-governmental
organizations. .
3. Any points you would like to add?

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Appendix Two
DILLA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Dear Respondent, the owner of this interview is Candidate for MA in Dilla University. We
are doing this research for partial fulfillment of MA in Geography and Environmental
Studies. This questionnaire is prepared to collect data for the research topic entitled
“to examine the causes of educated youth unemployment and the live of youths Dilla
town” for partial fulfillment of MA in Geography and Environmental Studies. The research
was providing information on current practice in the causes of educated youth unemployment
and the live of youths Dilla town.

The purpose of the thesis is purely academic. Hence, I will assure you that it will have no any
negative effect on you as an individual or on your organization. The effectiveness of the
study depends on your genuine and frank response which will be kept confidential. I,
therefore, request you to fill the questionnaire honestly and frankly. I would like to thank you
for your kind Cooperation in advance.

Thank in advance

Interview Guide Questions with Government Official

Name of the government sector _____________________________________
Position of the respondent_________________________________________

1. How does government explain graduate youth unemployment?

2. What are the major causes and consequences of graduate youth unemployment?
3. What have the government done to curb graduate youth unemployment?
4. What have the government done to engage graduate unemployed youth in small-scale
enterprises?
1. Any point you would like to add?

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Appendix Three
DILLA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDING QUESTIONS

1 How does the society describe graduate unemployment?

2 How do you describe government owned youth center in Dilla town?
3 What are the major causes of graduate youth unemployment?
4 What are your experiences of engaging in MSEs?
5 What are your experiences in free time and volunteerism services?
6 How do you describe actions taken by government to reduce graduate
unemployment?

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