10 Facts About Youth Unemployment In South Africa

1. Young people from the poorest households struggle the most to find jobs. And the fact is, despite the promise of a democratic South Africa, it’s young people from the poorest households who struggle the most to find jobs.

2. Two out of three South Africans aged 18 to 28 are unemployed. While the overall unemployment rate is about 25%, among young people it’s a daunting 60%.

3. New research finds that only 43% of all South Africans aged 15 to 64 are working, while as many as 59% have either no education at all, or have an incomplete secondary education.

4. The economy increasingly demands highly skilled labour, so a secondary education is not enough to guarantee employment.

5. The first and most obvious is that our education system fails to prepare young people for the world of work. Even those with a matric, or a tertiary qualification, are seen by many companies as unemployable.

6. Young people, particularly poor young people, do not have the network to get information on job opportunities, or the money and the mobility to look for work or move to places where there are better chances of employment.

7. The Labour Relations Act makes it difficult for employers to shed unproductive workers, so employers are averse to the risk of employing inexperienced young people with untested ability.

8. here is also a stark difference between the desires of the employed, the insiders, and the unemployed, or outsiders. Insiders want wages to say high, while many outsiders are willing to accept far lower pay for the sake of a job.

9. Among poor young families raised in households that have known only menial work – if there was any work at all – there is also a fear of the formal workplace environment.

10. A study by conducted by PapsiCo confirmed that graduates with a year of work experience under their belt were far more likely to get employed than those with no industry experience.