Unemployment becomes a disease in Malawi: Graduates scrambling for non-graduate jobs

Usually, in Malawi, the celebration of graduating from a university is short-lived or is mixed with anxiety of whether finding a job will be an easy task for a graduate.

Most bright graduates are seen either spending time on job sites on internet or mongering around town searching for a job opening.

Innocent Hunga, is a graduate who studied Accounting at one of the universities and is still struggling to secure a job of his calibre.

“I just do some part time with other companies who say they have no capacity to employ me. What I get from the job is very little that can’t keep me going,” he said.

Maybe Innocent is better off. Memory Banda, a graduate in Journalism, has never landed a job since she graduated two years ago.

She says media houses just use her and later dump her without any payment. The time she spent chasing pages will always be regretted by Memory.

“I work for maybe one year for a media house but they don’t pay me and they dump me, the trend has been so ever since,” she said.

The two are only a drop in the sea of thousands of graduates who share similar stories. Some even share very pathetic experiences.

However, their fate is forcing them to scramble for small opportunities suitable for non-graduates.

“We now apply for every opportunity that arise, be it police training and teaching. I applied last year but they didn’t pick me and this year I will apply again for several opportunities,” said David Soko, who did Human Resource Management.

History lecture at Mzuzu University Crispin Mphande described the situation as pathetic and worrisome.

“Our education system is not good at all. It doesn’t prepare someone to become an entrepreneur. How many people can be employed? We need to change our curriculum and set up something which can ease unemployment,” he said.

On his part, Minister of labour, youth, and manpower development Henry Mussa said the DPP led government has already begun setting up plans to ease unemployment.

He said much as changing the curriculum may be vital, it may be a long term process and DPP government has already thought of technical colleges which will help impart entrepreneurship knowledge in many youths.

“We have already begun implementing programs aimed at easing unemployment and sooner or later things will be at least better in the country,” he said.

But director for Youth and Society (YAS) Charles Kajoloweka said much as community colleges may be a good plan, there is need to plan well on how to run them.

“Learners must be given adequate resources during and after the training and the training environment must be conducive for the learners, otherwise, the colleges may be a waste of time and resources,” he said.