FEBRUARY 22, 2017 DISILLUSIONED: Unemployed graduates vent their frustration outside the East London City Hall as they have no jobs despite being qualified. Picture: ALAN EASON © Daily Dispatch
By OBAKENG MAJE
High rate of unemployment continues to ravage the youth in South Africa. According to www.statssa.gov.za, the burden of unemployment is also concentrated amongst the youth as they account for over 60% of the total number of unemployed persons.
The website said the unemployment rate among the youth is higher irrespective of education level. It reported that 2018, the graduate unemployment rate was 33,5% for those aged 15–24 and 10,2% among those aged 25–34 years, while the rate among adults (aged 35–64 years) was 4,7%.
“Just over 30% of the youth have jobs and about half of them participate in the labour market. Within the youth, those aged 15–24 years are more vulnerable in the labour market with an unemployment rate of over 52%, an absorption rate of about 12,2% and a labour force participation rate of 25,6%.
“When young people are employed in the South African labour market, their employment intensity is the highest amongst the Trade, Agriculture, and Finance and other business services industries.”
The www.statssa.gov.za reported that low and semi-skilled youth employment is concentrated in the Trade industry, while high-skilled youth employment is in the Community and social services as well as Finance and other business services industries.
Even though the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa shared the same sentiments, he said creating more opportunities for young people and supporting them to access these opportunities, is the government’s foremost priority.
Ramaphosa further said everything that they do as a government, contributes towards improving the lives of young people.
“Tackling youth unemployment requires accelerating economic growth, particularly in labour-intensive sectors, and building the capability of the state to fulfil its developmental role.
“We are also driving this agenda through a series of targeted interventions. These include the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which has provided work opportunities and livelihoods support for many young people,” said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa added that this week, on Youth Day, they will be launching a range of additional measures to create opportunities, enhance skills development, support young entrepreneurs and enable the full participation of young people in the economy.
He said this includes the establishment of a National Pathway Management Network, SA Youth, to make it easier for young people to view and access opportunities and receive active support to find pathways into the labour market.
“These are among the priority actions of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which was launched just weeks before we entered a national lockdown last year and which is now entering full implementation.
“The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention was built on the understanding that to address the youth unemployment crisis requires innovative thinking and strong partnerships across society,” said Ramaphosa.
He said government’s ultimate objective is to find models that work, whether in skills development or active labour market policies, and to scale these models rapidly to reach as many young people as possible.
Ramaphosa said most importantly, it recognises that young people must be at the centre of any effort to boost youth employment.
“Young people are our greatest asset, and our greatest weapon in this fight. As we pay tribute to the youth whose courageous activism won us our freedom, we also salute the resilience of every young person who is playing their part to build and develop this country.
“They are the young people volunteering in our communities, building our country through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, running their own businesses and studying to better themselves,” he said.
The South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in the North West said it defined youth unemployment as a ‘ticking time bomb’ that needs to be urgently defused.
SANCO provincial chairperson, Paul Sebegoe said: “The youth economic participation is critical to extricate them from the cyclical poverty trap characterised by rising unemployment and inequality.
“The efforts of government departments as well as State-Owned Enterprises (SOE’s) must be geared towards effectively addressing youth development including job creation identified as key priorities in the National Development Plan and reaffirmed in the Economic Recovery Plan.”
The Guardian 