Journal
Metropolitan Journal of Social and Educational Research
MJSER
Evaluating The Impact Of Vocational Training On Job Creation Among The Youths In Uganda
Kampikaho Besuel1, Freeman Crispus2
| Journal | Metropolitan Journal of Social and Educational Research (MJSER) |
| Volume / Issue | Vol. 5, No. 9 |
| Published | 06 October 2026 |
Abstract
This study evaluated the impact of vocational training on job creation among the youths of Mityana Municipality, Uganda, situating the inquiry within Uganda's broader youth unemployment crisis, in which the National Population and Housing Census and subsequent labour force surveys had consistently documented youth unemployment and underemployment rates far exceeding the national average, and within the government's Skilling Uganda strategy, which had positioned vocational and technical education as the primary policy instrument for converting the country's large youth population into a productive workforce capable of self-employment and enterprise creation rather than dependence on an already-saturated formal labour market. Mityana Municipality, a rapidly urbanising district town along the Kampala–Fort Portal corridor, presented a case in which multiple vocational training providers — including the Uganda Technical College extension programmes, private vocational institutes, non-governmental skills programmes, and informal apprenticeship arrangements — operated alongside a youth population whose transition from training into sustainable self-employment or wage employment had not been systematically documented. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 312 respondents comprising vocational training graduates across six trade areas, non-graduate youth comparison respondents, vocational institute administrators, local government community development officers, and employer representatives, this study employed descriptive statistics, hierarchy-of-controls analysis of the vocational-training-to-employment pathway, bivariate Pearson correlation and chi-square association, and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression to examine the determinants of successful job creation outcomes among vocational training graduates. The findings demonstrated that access to start-up capital or credit (β = 0.598, p < .001), practical/hands-on training quality (β = 0.552, p < .001), and post-training mentorship or business support (β = 0.521, p < .001) were the strongest independent predictors of job creation outcomes, while structural factors including trade market demand alignment (OR = 6.12, p < .001), training duration adequacy (OR = 5.28, p < .001), and access to microfinance or SACCO services (OR = 4.74, p < .001) were the strongest institutional predictors. The study calls for demand-driven trade selection aligned to Mityana's local economy, integrated start-up capital and mentorship packages attached to vocational certification, strengthened public-private partnership in apprenticeship placement, and closer monitoring of graduate employment outcomes as the priority policy interventions for converting vocational training investment into sustainable youth job creation in Mityana Municipality and comparable Ugandan municipalities.
Keywords
Vocational
Training
Job Creation and Youths
Cite This Article
Kampikaho Besuel1 & Freeman Crispus2 (2026). Evaluating The Impact Of Vocational Training On Job Creation Among The Youths In Uganda. Metropolitan Journal of Social and Educational Research, 5(9). https://journals.miu.ac.ug/pages/article.php?article_id=602