Asian Journal of Economics, Finance and Management

Over the years the youth population has been growing rapidly in most parts of the world. Alongside this growth the world over has seen a myriad of challenges facing this active segment of the population. The study sought to determine the effect of youth empowerment in unemployment intervention programmes on youth employability in Nakuru County. Regression analysis was employed to determine the statistical relationship between youth empowerment in unemployment intervention programmes and youth employability. The regression results show that the frequency of funds access and youth employability are positively and significantly related (β=0.373, p=0.000). The results also indicated that training and youth employability are significant and with a positive relationship (β= 0.317, p=0.011). Further, results revealed that years in employment (experience) and youth employability were positively related (β =0.441, p=0.000. The results indicated that holding the number of entrepreneurial trainings, Z₂ and the years the youth have been in self-employment, Z₃ constant then a unit increase in the number of times the youth have accessed the funds, Z₁ will lead to a 0.373 improvements in Youth employability. Likewise if Z₁ and Z₃ are held constant then a unit increase in entrepreneurial trainings for the youth would lead to a 0.317 increase in youth employability. A unit increase in the years the youth have been in self-employment would lead to a 0.441 increase Youth employability if Z₁ and Z₂ are held constant. The study recommends that there is a need for policymakers to focus on strengthening the institutional factors affecting the effective implementation of unemployment interventions. There is also a need for capacity building of Youth program implementers to equip them with relevant modern skills to deal with dynamic and upcoming youth issues.  The study suggests that future studies could focus on other factors such as technology, regulatory framework and youth exchange programmes and how these factors influence on the effective implementation of Youth unemployment intervention projects.