CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 : Introduction
The fragility of the youth labour market is a global phenomenon, in 2012, the global youth
unemployment rate reached 12.9%. At the end of 2014 it rose to 13%, with over 75 million young
people (aged 15-24) being unemployed (Statista 2016). These statistics provide support to the
notion that youth unemployment is a problem worthy of attention. In addition, unemployment is
highly influential in propagating poverty so one may argue that addressing unemployment in
general would also lower poverty levels and add to GDP (World Bank 2006). The situation of
youth employment thus deserves imperative attention.
The situation of youth unemployment in Cameroon (World Bank) stands at 6.7 % in 2014
for young people aged 15-24. This situation is even worse if we enlarge the age group to 32 which
is the age limit to gain entrance into a public sector employment. It has been a cause of massive
deliberations that has triggered a good number of public policy reforms since the 1990s to halt the
gushing trend of this phenomenon. The Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP) published
in 2010 by the Cameroon government identified youth unemployment to be a major problem in
the country. Cameroon has a relatively youthful population with about two third of its population
being under 35 years. The proportion of youths have kept on increasing in Cameroon since the last
decade and will continue to increase as compared to other age groups. This is as a result of high
birth rates which leads to high population growth. This situation has undoubtedly mounted
enormous pressure on educational resources and the fragile labour market economy.
The problem of youth unemployment in Cameroon can also be associated the fragility of
the economy and the mismatch between skills obtained through education and skills required in
the labour market on the one hand and the exponential growth in the number and proportion of
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youths in the whole population. This situation is not peculiar with Cameroon, it is common
characteristic of most African and other developing countries.
According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census data, “the population of Cameroon
grows at a rate of 2.5% annually while the average GDP growth since 2000 is around 3.5%”- a
clear indication that the economic growth rate is not strong enough to absorb a constant surging
population. The Cameroonian economy bounced back in 2012, stimulated by the recovery in the
oil sector and strong domestic demand, which was in turn driven by investments in infrastructure.
This economic bounce back has however not been translated into significant reduction in youth
unemployment.
As to what concerns the relationship between education and the chances of being
unemployed, research has shown that education has a considerable impact on labour market
outcomes such as gaining employment and earnings. Education is said to increase the skills of
individuals making them more productive thereby increasing their chances of being employed in
the labour market. Education will also increase the intensity and effectiveness of job search
considering that more educated persons have higher and broader possibilities to search for
vacancies than less educated ones. Moreover, in the midst of limited job opportunities, more
educated individuals tend to outpace less educated ones even in jobs that warrant lower
qualifications. This aggravates the unemployment gab between the various education
qualifications or levels. 1.2 : Statement of problem
Youths in Cameroon are confronted with many difficulties when it comes to their
integration in to the labor markets and the search for decent and productive jobs. Gaining
employment by youths in Cameroon is a major challenge that young people in the country like in
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most developing countries are facing. The situation is likely to keep deteriorating as the total
number of youths is expected to keep increasing given the prevailing high birth rates. The huge
youthful population in Cameroon signifies an increase in the number of people within the working
age which inherently implies an increase in labour supply and demand for job opportunities.
According to the last national survey of employment and the informal sector,
unemployment among 15-35 year-olds is below 9% among people with no higher than secondary
school qualifications and above 13% among those with higher-education qualifications. More
precisely, whatever the type of training under consideration, whether academic or vocational, the
unemployment rate is 13.7% among holders of the Advance level certificate, 15.7% for those with
Bachelor degree and 10.4% for those with a master’s degree.
Studies have shown that one of the main limitation to youth employment chances is the
lack of the required skills. Following this logical reasoning, it is probable that unemployment rates
or the chances of being unemployed would decrease as the level of education increases. To this
effect, the Government of Cameroon has responded by investing heavily in education and training.
Since the year 2000, the government has implemented several policies to expand the education
system with the objective of reducing youth unemployment. Some of the policy measures include
the creation of youth training centers, free universal primary education, and the expansion of the
secondary and higher education sectors through the creation of more schools and universities. The
government has equally acknowledged that the youths need financial and other forms of support
that could render them self-employed especially considering the fact that the public sector alone
cannot absorb all the young job seekers. In this regards, the National Employment Fund was
created to assist young people with authentic information on employment opportunities and link
them with enterprises in need of employees depending on the required skills and the qualifications.
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Other measures include the adoption of policy documents such as the youth and
Employment Strategic Paper, as well as the creation of the National Youth Agency to enhance the
potentials of youths and possibly reduce unemployment among them. Still in the wind of rolling
back the surging trend of youth unemployment. The Youth National Strategic Action Plan
(YNSAP) under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth Affairs was created in 2008. This was
followed by the adoption of the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP) in 2010 under
the coordination of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT).
Despite these efforts by the government, unemployment among Cameroonian youths still
remains relatively high and a call for greater concern. In 2014, the unemployment rate for youth
15 -24 years stood at 6.7% (ILO, 2015). If we consider young people up till 32 years of age, which
is the age limit to get a Public sector job, the rate will be by far higher. Many young people still
remain unemployed and exposed to the dangers of social ills such as crime. Youth unemployment
in Cameroon is therefore an obstacle to benefiting from the investment in education both at the
individual and society levels. In order to deal with the challenges of youth unemployment and
render education more productive, there is need to investigate on how education influences
employment outcomes. It is against this back drop that this study intends to make an analysis of
the relationship between education and youth unemployment in Cameroon in a bid to come out
with a clearer perspective and way of tackling the phenomenon of youth unemployment. 1.3 : Objective of the study
This study intends to analyze the relationship that exist between education and youth
unemployment rates in Cameroonian.
More specifically, this study attempts to find out how education attainment influences
unemployment and to verify if youth unemployment rates vary depending on the field of study. In
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addition, the study will investigate whether the location of school attended has an impact on youth
unemployment rates.

1.4: Research questions
The main question of this research is: how does education affect the rates of youth
unemployment in Cameroon?
To be able to answer this main question, the following sub questions are formulated to serve as
guidelines:
1. How does the level of education attainment affect the chances of youth employment?
2. What influence does the field/program of study has on the chances of employment among
Cameroonian youths?
3. How does the location of the school attended affect the chances of youth employment in
Cameroon?