Youth unemployment: it’s an emergency

Despite the efforts made by the government, the nongovernmental sector and initiatives undertaken by young people in the past 15 years, the youth find themselves locked out of the labour market, a researcher on youth and jobs said.

And some believe the youth’s economic and social exclusion contradicted the struggles waged by the 1976 generation and others, who sacrificed much to ensure freedom and democracy.

Those struggles appeared to have been in vain, they said.

Prof Lauren Graham, interim research chair of welfare and social development at the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA), said over the past 12 to 15 years, a lot has been done right.

There had been more years of education, more finishing school and a huge investment by the state in skills development training.

This included work done through the Presidential youth employment interventions in the past five years to integrate services and open opportunities.

“We have done a lot right, but on the demand side of the economy, there is no growth in jobs and a lot of young people with more years of education,” Graham said.

“We have a high rate of young people who have more years of education still locked out of the labour market.

“That sense of exclusion economically and socially that the young people feel is real.”

Study

Graham was speaking about the findings of research undertaken by CSDA and the Southern Africa Labour and Research Unit at the University of Cape Town.

The study, conducted by Graham, with fellow researchers Arianne de Lannoy and Joanna Grotte, involved data collection and analysis obtained from NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) youth who participated in the programme Basic Package of Support (BPS).

The youths had a holistic assessment of their lives and were guided to understand what they wanted to achieve and were actively referred to available opportunities.

Following three sessions, the findings demonstrated improved outcomes for well-being, including quality of life, mental health and sense of support.

They also showed improved ability to handle stress and access to services – indicators of improved navigational capacity.

“By the time participants have completed three coaching sessions, almost 40% of them have reconnected to some form of learning or earning opportunity,” the report read.

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Locked out of job market

The research found many youths were doing their best to find and take up opportunities, yet found themselves either completely locked out of the labour market, or those lucky to get short-term job opportunities often went back to square one when those jobs ended.

“That can lead to a sense of disillusionment and discouragement,” Graham said.

There was a need to understand their aspirations, help them to overcome some of the barriers they faced and what services they could access to improve their situation, the research found.

But the youth need to take up opportunities that are in line with their aspirations to ensure they are oriented towards the labour market’s needs, she said.

The pilot programme, undertaken from 2022 to 2024, was designed to test some of the interventions, using coaches to guide the youth.

They were put through three sessions with coaches who looked at where they wanted to go in their lives and how they could be helped to get there. The process put them on a longer-term trajectory to stay oriented to opportunities.

“We don’t know yet whether that has translated to longer-term outcomes, but we certainly see positive shorter-term outcomes,” Graham said.

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