Abstract:
The overall objective of this study was to assess the contribution of vocational education to youth employment in Morogoro Region. The specific objectives were to identifying factors that influence vocational education graduates in getting employment; determine the attitudes of employers; assess the vocational skills practiced by graduates of vocational education centres and employed vocational youth graduates; compare youth incomes between VETA and non VETA graduates; and determine problems and challenges facing vocational graduates in getting employment. A cross-sectional research design was applied in which a questionnaire was used to collect primary data. A sample of 120 respondents was drawn through snowball sampling technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version, in which descriptive statistics were determined. Key informants including 12 tutors from vocational training centres and 10 employers were interviewed to provide information on vocational education training. Likert scale was used to measure the attitudes of employers and vocational graduates. A binary regression used to determine factors influencing vocational education graduates in getting employment and T-test analysis was used to compare youth incomes of VETA and non VETA graduates. Study findings revealed that the average income of VETA graduates was relatively lower than that of non VETA graduates. However, this was not statistically significant. Vocational education contributes to youth employment. The study recommends that government should create conducive environment for the graduates to get capital or loans from financial institutions. This will help the youth to get more chances of being employed in public and private sectors and expand more chances for self employment.
