2022/11/22 by Alexis Habiyaremye, Thomas Habanabakize, Chijioke Nwosu +1
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Education Systems and Policy #Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences #Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/10353046221138400
openalex publication_date 2022/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abstract South Africa has one of the world’s highest youth unemployment rates despite a high demand for skilled labour, because employability remains severely hampered by a persistent vertical skills mismatch. The flagship upskilling programme deployed by the government to enhance job readiness and enterprise development capabilities among rural youth has, however, shown mixed results. The slow uptakes of alumni calls into question the adequacy of the programme’s skills composition in resolving the labour market mismatch. Using the Outcome Mapping approach and probit estimation on self-reported skills improvements among programme participants, this study finds perceived improvements in non-technical skills to be associated with a higher likelihood of success in comparison to technical skills, both in securing a stable job and in launching a viable enterprise after completion of the programme. These findings confirm the growing importance of ‘soft skills’ in bolstering employability when jobs are scarce. They suggest the need for a stronger emphasis on this set of skills in upskilling programmes aimed to address unemployment challenges.