Abstract:
Background: The high population of youth unemployment is one of the most critical issues at the
global level. Which is caused by socio-economic and demographic factors. Exploring the spatial
distribution and identifying associated factors is important to design effective policy and programs
to reduce youth unemployment. Thus, this study aimed to explore the spatial distribution and
associated factors of youth unemployment in Ethiopia using the 2021 National labor force survey.
Method: This study used the national labor force survey 2021 data as a data source. The data was
collected using a two-stage sampling method. To analyze our data we employed spatial and
multilevel analysis. ArcGIS version 10.8 and SAS version 9.4 statistical software were used for
spatial and multilevel analysis respectively.
Results: A total of 19803 youth were included in this study, among those 5007(25.3) youths are
unemployed and 14796(74.7) youths are employed in Ethiopia according to 2021 national labor
force survey data. This study revealed that the spatial distribution of youth unemployment was
clustered or non-random in the Ethiopian administrative zones with Moran’s index of 0.0618 (P value=0.0278). The high unemployment of youth was observed in almost all zones of the Afar
region, north Gondar, central Gondar, Weg Hamra, and the north Shewa zone of the Amhara
region. Based on AIC, and BIC criteria, the random intercept model with level one and level two
predictors was preferred and the result shows sex, age, marital status, education level, the field of
study, relation to the household, region, and size of a household were found to be a statistically
significant variable for the unemployment of youth.
Conclusions: Spatial distribution of youth unemployment varies across the Ethiopian
administrative zones. Based on the selected multilevel model result we summarize that females,
illiterate, spouses of household, household size more than four, engineering fields of study, and
married youth were more likely to be unemployed. Therefore, the government and concerned bod
y should give attention to risk areas and identified factors, and also create a labor market that
works better for youth employment.
Keywords: Youth unemployment, spatial analysis, multilevel analysis, Ethiopia