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Foundations For Youth Unemployment In South Africa

By Elaine Guthrie


Youth unemployment is at an all-time high even fresh graduates are finding it hard to secure and entry-level job. This is due to several factors that need addressing. It is better this problem is address now as the figure are continuously rising. Below are reasons why there is high youth unemployment in South Africa.

Most factories and industries are set up in urban places and most job openings are found in the city. A large population of the people live outside from the city thus accessing their job areas is hard. They shy away from work, as they will spend more than a quarter of the salary commuting between their homes and the place of work.

The other contributing factor is the learning system. The system does not equip the kids with the knowledge they need to succeed in life. They are taught subjects that will not help them or better yet, they will not require them in a career path they take. The system should be designed in such a way that it does equip people with relevant life skills.

The other significant cause of poverty in South Africa is high poverty levels. Many youths have completed their studies but there is no job that is forth coming. After tarmacking for long, they give up, as they have no money to cater for rent, fare and other necessities. They start looking for any kind of job. What happen when they do this are they becoming rusty in the skills they were taught in school. Therefore, even if they got a job later, they will not perform as expected. You will find that most youth find employment when they are almost thirty years of age. Poverty has also made students drop out of school due to lack of school fees. This is common in large families.

The young people lack the right skills to work in every industry or sector in a country. Agriculture is underdeveloped since the people do not have right skills. There are plenty of opportunities in this sector that can be massive employers of the young people. The government should aim at establishing training facilities that will encourage investment in the under developed sectors.

Cultural and social factors are the cause for high unemployment among the youth. Crime is a major issue in the particular country and the youths are the people engaged in it. These negative social influences such as crime, drug abuse and others make the youth shun away from living like normal hardworking citizens. They want to get rich quickly instead of working for the money.

The other cause of joblessness is the economy of the country. The economy may be growing but at a very low rate. This means investors shy away from investing in the country due to economic factors such as tax, land availability and the rules and regulations. If the investors started companies in this country, they would be major employers, as they would need both skilled and semi-skilled workers. Thus there is need to improve the economy to solve issues in this country.

Joblessness is common in every country in the world especially among the youth. The negative effects of unemployment are vices such as crime, drug use, and prostitution among others. The country should move to solve the situation as there as the effects are already severe. Proper training, lowering the inflation rate and making education accessible to all will solve the lack of employment.




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