Employment is a critical factor in development, general, and specifically social
development. All else constant, education is an important precursor to employment.
Besides university or academic learning that feeds into the white collar or office jobs;
technical, entrepreneurial, and vocational training and education although feeding
mostly into the pink collar or artisan jobs is an important aspect of education and,
therefore, employability. Further, entrepreneurial and related training and education
has the potential to create employment. However, little has been written on factors that
positively influence employability of technical education graduates. Obviously, one
would like to know if there is match between industrial needs and the specialisation of
the graduates.
The purpose of this research was to evaluate factors influencing employability of
technical education graduates in Malawi. The study attempted four research questions,
three targeting employees (who are technical education graduates) and these had
hypothesis. The fourth research question targeted employers and had a proposition on
needs of companies. We reviewed literature to understand the research problem,
develop theoretical framework and conceptualise our research. Two theories, theory
of demand and supply of labour, and capability approach were employed.
Of the three strategies; qualitative, quantitative and mixed, a quantitative strategy
using a cross sectional design from a sample of 81 technical education graduates and
30 companies was employed. The results show no significant relationship between
employability and the explanatory variables of age, gender, education attainment and
skills. A significant relationship (p=0.018) was found between first job of graduates
in relation to the field of study, meaning with the right education and the right job
match, graduates were more employable. In addition, descriptive statistics indicate a
strong relationship for all variables as per the research questions. Technical skills and
education attainment seem to affect the duration taken to gain employment. The
majority of the graduates were employed in professions that matched their training.
Companies have preferences in recruiting graduates. The findings further show that,
curriculum, funding and multiple qualifications need harmonisation for effective
TVET provision.