Technical vocational education and training (TVET), employment and poverty in Uganda

Abstract

The study investigated the causal relationship between TVET education attainment and employment as well as the effect of interaction of TVET education attainment and employment quality characteristics on poverty incidence of working age population (ages 14-64 years) in Uganda. Data from the 2019/2020 UNHS was utilized for empirical analysis. Descriptive Statistics have been used to display summaries on the key variables and Regression Analysis has been employed to study the underlying causal relationships. The empirical models are estimated by the discrete choice modelling techniques, namely the logit, probit, 2SLS, ivprobit and biprobit regressions while paying attention to endogeneity concerns. Estimates from regressions indicate that TVET education attainment has a positive and significant causal effect on employment. Results show that the chances of employment into the labour market for a working age person with TVET education level of attainment increase by 4.3 percent compared to a working age person with other levels of education. Results further indicate that TVET education attainment has ability to predict probability of poverty incidence of employed individuals, whether the TVET variable enters the poverty model singly or whether it is interacted with employment characteristics. For instance, estimates show that chances of plunging into poverty reduces by 4.2 percent for employed individuals with TVET education attainment relative to employed individuals without TVET education attainment after the interaction of TVET with employment characteristics. Additionally, estimates show that the chances of escaping poverty by the employed TVET holders increase significantly when: (i) they are employed in the industrial and services sectors rather than being employed in agricultural sector, and (ii) they work in formal employment rather than working in informal jobs. The study results suggest that, as a realistic policy option against poverty and unemployment, efforts to promote and support TVET should be scaled up and deliberate efforts be made to encourage TVET holders to offer their labour skills in the industrial and services sectors as well as in the formalized employment institutions of the labour market. Departure from other related studies, this study has modelled the effect of the interaction between TVET education attainment and employment quality characteristics on poverty incidence of employed individuals in Uganda, while addressing the endogeneity concerns.