Uneducated but employed and well-paid

What you need to know:

Going by the NBS report, about 24.5 per cent of all people who were employed in the formal sector in 2016 did not complete even their primary school education, but surprisingly some of them are earning above Sh1.5 million per month-which is above what most graduates take home at the end of grueling four weeks of shutting to and from the office.   

Dar es Salaam. While an increasing number of Tanzanians are jostling for admission into university in the hope of living the “happily-ever-after” life that degrees supposedly offer at the end of it all, there is a group of employees quietly enjoying six-figure perks without ever walking in a primary school corridor for academic purposes. Yes, salaried employees, not entrepreneurs.

Apparently, as the latest labour market and salary survey released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows, quite a good number of today’s employers are still looking beyond first-class university degrees and college diplomas in their quest to get the best team on board their companies as competition toughens. The eye-opening NBS report reveals that about 24.5 per cent of all people who were employed in the formal sector, some holding coveted positions, in 2016 did not complete even their primary school education.

More surprising is the fact that some of them are earning above Sh1.5 million per month – which is above what most graduates (and yes, in some cases holders of master’s degrees) take home at the end of a gruelling four weeks of shuttling to and from the office.

The fact though is that the attractive perks are not delivered on a silver platter to this “uneducated” yet well-paid group – it’s not luck either. This interesting group of salaried, less educated workers does not comprise your kind of Tom, Dick and Harry, but a select few, talented people with very rare, innate skills backed by their ability and drive for results, analysts say.

Titled Employment and Earnings Survey on the State of Employment in the Formal Sector, the NBS report shows that 0.07 per cent of employees with no education during the period reviewed had a starting salary of above Sh1.5 million per month. This means that 12 people out of the 17,050 “uneducated” people who were employed in 2016 received salaries of above Sh1.5 million per month.

This was at the same level as the 16.8 per cent of new recruits who held a degree or any other tertiary education qualification, the Bureau notes. Economist Dan Tandasi says the most plausible explanation for this discrepancy is that companies are looking for tangible results. He agrees with the view that rare, specific skills are a major plus for the so-called “uneducated” who are at par, or earning more than degree holders.

“New recruits are employed for their skills – on the basis of what value they add to a company,” he says. “The point is that if we are to have a sustainable economy, we need to have a workforce that not only has the necessary skills, but can also use them to work efficiently.”

The NBS report shows that a total of 69,639 people were recruited during the period reviewed, with 24.5 per cent reported to have never knocked on a classroom door. The majority of them (15,515) were service workers and shop sales workers.

Business analyst Donath Olomi says these people have “God-given talents” that employers consider “an asset and not a liability to their investments”.

Prof Honest Ngowi of Mzumbe University argues that this group actually has an education, except that theirs is “informal education”.

However, he quickly points out that it shouldn’t be a comfort zone for these skilled, yet “uneducated” big earners because the fast-paced and overwhelming changes in technology portend a bleak future for employees with no kind of formal education.

Already, the low salaries that the majority in this group earned in 2016 can be the telltale sign of how fortunes may drastically change in the absence of a concrete plan to regularise in the ever-evolving labour market. According to the NBS data, while some were enjoying such attractive salaries, the majority (58.9 per cent) were earning lowly pay of between Sh101,000 and Sh150,000 monthly.