Youth unemployment across Africa and the Middle East is a complex and urgent challenge. With over 60% of the population under the age of 25, the region faces a demographic surge that, if not matched with economic opportunity, risks deepening cycles of unemployment, underemployment, and exclusion, particularly for women and marginalised youth.
Each year, more young people enter the labour market than there are jobs to absorb them, especially in less developed economies. Formal employment remains out of reach for most: In 2023, only about one in five youth in low-income countries could expect to secure regular paid employment and nearly three-quarters of young adults in Sub-Saharan Africa remained trapped in insecure work, underscoring the persistent gap between demographic potential and economic opportunity.
Despite growing interest in youth employment programmes, many interventions remain fragmented and overly focused on supply-side solutions such as upskilling. While important, this narrow focus often overlooks the demand-side of the employment equation. In other words, what are the requirements, commercial motivations, and constraints faced by employers who ultimately create and sustain jobs?
This highlights a critical gap: the need for more evidence and investment in programmes that directly engage employers and respond to labour market realities with demand-driven solutions.
CFYE seeks to address this gap through the Pathways to Employment (PTE) Learning Series. Drawing on standardised data collected over 6 years of implementation and targeted case study research with selected partners, the PTE series aims to generate practical lessons on how different business models can create and sustain decent work for youth.
Paper 1: Platforms for Skill-Building
Labour markets across Africa and the Middle East are undergoing rapid transformation driven by digital technologies. However, sectors with the potential to scale rapidly, such as e-commerce, educational technology (EdTech), and IT services, often struggle to find talent.
These digital sectors face a persistent mismatch between employer needs and the available talent pool. Addressing this challenge requires demand-driven approaches that not only equip young people with relevant skills but also ensure that training is directly connected to real job opportunities through structured pathways into employment.
In this context, Platforms for Skills-Building have emerged as a promising model, providing technical and soft skills training, mentorship, and job matching services to prepare youth for two key job types: digitally enabled jobs (e.g. retail staff using point of sale systems) or digitally delivered jobs (e.g. online customer support)
