We’ve to address skills conundrum for better tomorrow

Preparing a country’s workforce for the present and future labour market needs has become a core priority to both advanced and emerging economies as well. Even to the low-income economies like Tanzania, there has been an imminent need to calibrate a set of skills composed by its workforce to better fit the current and upcoming challenges of the global economy that are highly dynamic and diverse in nature.

Given the importance of the matter, there has been an imminent call from all stakeholders (ranging from the public to the private sector as well) to equip our labour force with much needed skills in the market so as to compete effectively and efficiently. Like many developing and emerging economies that have embraced skills upgrading, Tanzania has no exception in joining the course as staying competitive in today’s environment requires customization of skills toolkit given the entrance of at least 800,000 individuals in the labour market each year (World Bank, 2016) .

Despite of such an urgency, there has been a slow pace on reskilling efforts in our country to both public and private stakeholders. And as the situation remains vicious, there are also mounting concerns on the level, scale and quality of skills needed to win the talent and skills mismatch encounter we are facing.

In addition to the concern of workers and potential workers in the face of this changed landscape employers are concerned that they lack the key skills among their workers. A recent study by PwC found that availability of key skills is one of the top threats facing many employers’ now days. And while there may be opportunities in this Fourth Industrial Revolution, there are fears that the workforce may not be able to keep up.

Another study by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (2014) has also sounded an alarm on an increasing necessity of skills in today’s challenging economic environment.

The study shows that at least 61 percent of graduates produced in Tanzania are half-baked for the job market as most of them lack employability skills – technical mastery and basic work-related capabilities. And as youth unemployment keeps hovering to the new highs, the worst is yet to come if nothing will be done to address the situation.

Given the pressing concern of the issue at hand, the following can be some of the takeaways on how to address this issue in the context of Tanzania.

First of all, there should be reforms to redesign our education sector. It is of no compromise that the current education system reflects the needs and aspirations of the 20th Century which are content-driven and largely outdated. In the meanwhile, the future of education emphasizes the immense need to look beyond these areas and strategically utilize the emerging technologies to prepare the coming workforce of the challenges ahead.

There should be a paradigm shift in our education system with more focus to be concentrated on today’s skill-based world of work. Furthermore, our education needs to be shaped to nurture a generation of lifelong learners so as to better compete with the changing demands of the labour market. And, it should be coined to embrace critical thinking problem solving skills, collaboration and digital literacy.

Secondly, there is a need to encourage public-private partnerships to address skills mismatch. Leveraging on coordination among the private and public sector is consistently becoming a necessity as it is forecasted that over 90 percent of job creation in the future will be done by the private sector. A skills for job initiative consistently need a private sector feedback in updating a skills bundle as we focus to stay competitive in the current economic reality. Moreover, business collaboration within industries to create larger pools of skilled talent will become indispensable as many of the technology-driven business changes underway today need a multi-sectoral approach in confronting them.

Thirdly, we need to revitalize our technical and vocational training.

A recent research has indicated that in every 100,000 Tanzanians, only 500 individuals have vocational skills. With this picture at hand, we need to streamline efforts to revitalize our vocational training system to a demand-led training system that will provide more market relevant skills and improved economic opportunities.

The author is a Dar es Salaam-based economist