Characteristics and Determinants of Youth Unemployment in Ethiopia

Abstract

Youth unemployment is a serious concern to policy makers in many developing countries because of its multidimensional impact. In this connection, the paper attempts to characterize youth unemployment in Ethiopia and reveal its major determinants. Univariate results indicate that the youth in general, including teenager youth and, young adults, those living in urban centres like Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, those with primary and secondary education, as well as female youth face large unemployment spells. From the regression results, we found the prime age male unemployment rate to be a positive significant predictor of youth unemployment rates whereas demographic trends were found to be insignificant.