City Press writes that young people in SA are at the coalface of the country’s unemployment crisis, with some suggesting that two in three people between the ages of 15 and 34 are out of work.
The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey showed that 61% of young people in that age group were unemployed in the last three months of last year, although that figure is likely to be about 70%, if the expanded unemployment rate is considered. Bad economic policies, poor economic growth and lack of foresight by government since democracy have exacerbated the legacy of apartheid, say experts. In Soweto, many young people have fallen prey to substance misuse (narcotics and alcohol) to cope with the pain of having no job – and no prospect of obtaining one for a long time. Locals say that children as young as 13 in the township have resorted to prostitution to afford food or their next fix. Sipho Hlongwane is one such individual. He survives by washing people’s sneakers or doing odd jobs for a few rands at a time. Without matric or any other qualifications, Hlongwane is homeless and goes to bed hungry most nights. He falls into the 15% (2.6 million) of South Africans who lack sufficient food and the 6% (1.1 million) who experience severely inadequate access to it, according to the 2021 Focus on Food Inadequacy and Hunger report from Stats SA. Speaking at the SA Investment Conference last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the formation of a national skills fund from multiple sources that would provide R800 million to fund training for unemployed young people in digital skills. Ravi Naidoo, head of the Youth Employment Service (YES), agreed that a focus on skilling young people in information technology was what the economy needed. The organisation has placed 100,000 young people in private companies since its inception four years
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dimakatso Leshoro at City Press (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Creating employment for young people now more important than ever, at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page