Addressing Youth Unemployment

Joblessness among South Africa’s young population is staggeringly high, and economic reforms are desperately needed in order to address this critical issue.

- Andile Ntingi

South Africa boasts the continent’s most industrialised economy, but is failing to provide jobs to millions of its unemployed youth. With the economy now in a technical recession, it is unlikely that this crisis will end anytime soon, unless drastic policy interventions are implemented to boost growth.

So, in reality, there is very little to celebrate this youth month as millions of young people have been relegated to the bottom of the economic pyramid, with bleak prospects for getting jobs or pursuing entrepreneurship.

This year’s youth festivities are happening against the backdrop of a shrinking economy and rising unemployment, which is likely to lead to business closures and a pullback in investment as companies cut back on costs.

The unemployment rate rose to a 13-year high of 27.7% in the first quarter of this year, pushed up by a 0.7% contraction in the economy in the same period.

South Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 are most affected, with 65.7% of people in this age category jobless, according to Stats SA. Meanwhile, 41.1% of people between the ages of 25 and 34 are unemployed.

Compared with its emerging-market peers, SA has unusually low levels of participation in the labour market by people of working age. About 42.6% of working-age South Africans are employed, compared with a 65% employment rate in other countries that are at a similar stage of development.