The Sunday Independent

Youth unemployment needs multiple interventions

MOSES MOREROA Moreroa is a certified Public Relations Practitioner

IT’S paradoxical that a country with a larger young population has depressingly high youth unemployment rates, with more than half of the population unemployed.

The employed half are still negotiating success as simple cogs in the system, while a small percentage are carving out a name for themselves as leaders in their fields.

As a result, youth unemployment is South Africa’s most serious socioeconomic problem.

This tragic reality for millions of young people is the result of apartheid’s heinous legacy, as well as the inability of several democratic administrations to implement policies that react to the magnitude and severity of the issue.

A sizeable proportion of the jobless youngsters fear they will never find work. Without undercutting the government’s attempts to create jobs, there has never been a plausible policy presentation regarding how the objective of generating young employment would be realised.

The only occupations available to young people are two-year contracts as flag-bearers, lawn mowers, road cleaners, and other roadside services.

Young people have not been included in economic activities in a real, or structural way. This is because the government’s development approach prioritises rewarding liberation warriors before advancing their close families. The future will come later, so they believe.

In South Africa, public administration is classified as political administration. This indicates that anyone who demonstrates good governance but is outside the ambit of the government is an outsider who will cause difficulty and endanger institutions of public administration.

As a result, the change in the employment sector remains gradual, since the democratic government’s approach attempts to handle job issues quantitatively and reactively without putting in place quality measures.

Young people find employment that is typically short-lived because the contracts are not even renewable, before having to look again for their next placement.

Policymakers should evaluate if these short-term experiences add up to something longer term – or whether there is a risk of prolonging the underemployment cycle.

In the hands of new technology and robots, the economy is taking on a new form. This means the major role-players in both the job sector and the leadership must have a solid understanding of the job sector’s direction. Incorporating young people into leadership posts, who are plainly embracing various talents, will help the government to interpret policies within context and reduce reliance on outsourced expertise to tackle local issues.

Given this evidence, as well as the fact that South Africa has been experiencing economic stagnation for some time, it is critical that funders, policymakers, and those working on youth employment interventions evaluate and invest in programmes based on their ability to keep young people positively oriented toward the labour market. Even if the young person is unable to obtain a job, the programmes should assist them to enhance their employability. For example, the government extended internship programmes from a year to two years, yet more than 80% of successful interns are not integrated within the areas where they worked for two years. The government thinks these young people have been adequately prepared and can fend for themselves.

However, job placement indicates more about demand than supply. A young person’s capacity to obtain work is determined not just by their skills, but by whether the labour market creates a sufficient demand for employment. No matter how thoroughly a programme teaches and supports a young person, if there are few jobs available, young people are unlikely to find employment.

This is due to the government’s failure to compel the retirement of old crocks who are now in charge of portfolios, that require new sophisticated technology to progress. So the first step would be to remove the old guards from positions of power and recognise that administration is a skill, not a legacy for having fought for liberation.

The government should recognise that operating the public sector has less to do with the governing party and more to do with governance. And one does not have to be a politician to be the leader of a government entity.

Failure to rope in young people in leadership positions prolongs the structural unemployment in South Africa. Structural unemployment is a mismatch between available jobs and the skill levels of the unemployed.

Unlike cyclical unemployment, it is caused by factors other than the business cycle. It happens when an underlying economic change makes it harder for some people to find employment. It is more difficult to repair than other forms of unemployment.

Structural unemployment can cause the unemployment rate to remain high long after a recession has ended. If policymakers disregard it, it leads to a greater natural unemployment rate. The longer graduates are out of work, the less useful their degree and skills become.

The economic consequence of structural unemployment is that it promotes income inequality. This is because the older, long-term jobless worker lacks the essential technical abilities.

The only viable answer is for the government to enact rules that can control these rapidly developing industries, so that even if computers outwit people, a certain percentage of the workforce must retain their jobs.

METRO

en-za

2021-06-20T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-20T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thesundayindependent.pressreader.com/article/281801401920561

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