This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.SA has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, with an official rate of 32%, rising to 42% when discouraged job seekers are included. Among young people aged 15 to 24, unemployment is a staggering 60%.
Hannah J Dawson notes that while much attention has focused on youth exclusion from the labour market and their survival strategies, far less is said about their experiences in precarious jobs, or why some choose to leave low-wage employment. In 2015 and 2016, the author conducted in-depth interviews and a survey with 100 young people (aged 18-35) in the settlement of Zandspruit, near Johannesburg, for her PhD. What they told her was that the wage work available to them did not offer a pathway to a dignified life. While temporary contracts and retrenchments explain half of all job losses, voluntary quitting was a striking trend in a country with such high unemployment. The most common reason for quitting was exploitative labour conditions. The interviewees spoke of employers bypassing minimum benefits, withholding pay and making unfair deductions. Contracts were rarely made permanent. More than just poor wages or bad working conditions, these jobs offered little prospect of social mobility. Some felt that no matter how hard they worked, they would never earn enough to improve their lives or achieve what they saw as key markers of respected manhood, like marriage, establishing a home and supporting a family. Being disrespected in the workplace takes a psychological and emotional toll. For some, quitting was a way to reclaim respect and a degree of autonomy. By rejecting such jobs, these young men challenge the notion that “any job is better than no job” and assert their right to economic participation on fair and dignified terms. Their stories challenge society to rethink the relationship between work, dignity and citizenship.
- Read the full original of the thought-provoking article in the above regard by Hannah J Dawson at Moneyweb
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