Address job skills issue in EAC bloc, govt urges

Arusha. The government has said lack of workplace skills by fresh graduates within the East African Community (EAC) bloc has to be addressed urgently by all stakeholders, including employers and training institutions.

One of the ways to address it is through supporting skills development to empower job seekers, according to the minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disabilities), Ms Jenista Mhagama.

“We need to have workable strategies to increase productivity and competitiveness in the region,” she said on Friday, when she opened the annual general meeting of the East African Employers’ Organisation (EAEO).

The minister said employers should not keep on complaining about lack of competent employees among graduates, but should instead address the issue through increased productivity and competitiveness in the region”.

She informed the five EAC partner states that the governments in the bloc were keen on proposals by employers, especially those in the private sector, and what should be done to ensure fresh graduates had adequate, relevant and competitive skills relevant in the workplace in the entire region.

Statistics show that the majority of the work force in Tanzania is in the informal sector by almost 18 per cent, whereby more than 60 per cent of people practise subsistence agriculture, while almost seven per cent serve as domestic workers.

A survey carried out a few years ago in the EAC region through the Inter University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) indicated that only 28 per cent of the graduate youth land in jobs that are relevant to their field of study.

EAEO chairperson Rosemary Ssenabulya said it was high time the employers in the EAC bloc transformed the informal economy into the formal to create more jobs for the youth and develop the region.