Youth Unemployment Essays

And, unlike their middle-class peers, poorer young people lack “productive social capital” – social networks that can be used for information about and access to the labour market.

And, unlike their middle-class peers, poorer young people lack “productive social capital” – social networks that can be used for information about and access to the labour market.

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-South Africa’s youth unemployment rates are now considered to be chronic.

The latest figures show that about 48% of South Africans between 15 and 34 were unemployed in the third quarter of 2016.

In addition, South African employers, in their apparent distrust of the quality of education received by young people, have raised the bar for entry into low level jobs ever higher.

But by escalating the educational requirements for entry-level jobs, employers are effectively shutting out a large pool of potentially good young employees.

Research indicates that a key difficulty facing young work seekers, in particular, is the fact that South Africa’s labour market favours highly skilled employees.

The high demand for skilled labour means that those with a post-secondary qualification are far more likely to find employment than those with only a matric certificate.

The situation has worsened over the past eight years despite a great deal of policy attention and the implementation of a range of public and private interventions.

If not addressed as a matter of urgency, the situation is expected to increase levels of frustration and impatience among the youth.

We argue that focusing solely on the structural, long-term issues may prevent the country from considering important aspects that could be addressed more speedily, including local level barriers that constrain young people’s entry into the labour market.

Apart from the very high jobless rate, the other particularly disturbing trend is that more and more young people have given up looking for work.