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The alarming issues relating to youth unemployment

"If one person is unemployed it is a personal problem, but if thousands of people are unemployed it is a social problem" Mills (1959).

Unemployment is one of the key indicators of poverty and has various negative effects on people which may include feelings of powerlessness and futility and manifests in depression and even despair. Having read and hearing the history of the youth of 1976 and Steve Biko I often find myself wondering if they had died in vein and if their struggle was worth it. Today’s youth lacks skills development, job opportunities and education; although in 2001, through the Demutualisation Levy Act 1998, the government launch the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) as a national youth development initiative aimed at promoting employment opportunities for young people and enhancing entrepreneurship among them for sustainable livelihood. Over the past 10 years the UYF has indeed performed to its full potential, but on the contrary, secretary general of the Youth Communist League of South Africa at the 30th anniversary of the Youth, openly criticised the fund by arguing that "Umsobomvu funding is streamlined toward specific individuals at the expense of the poor youth in rural areas who are in real need for assistance". If our own support systems are corrupt how then does one have hope to a better future?

South Africa is to date, facing a rise in youth unemployment which has become a huge social problem in the country. According to the latest statistics the unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 34 increased from 32.7% between 2008 and 2014. As a university student I fear completing my degree because I know it no longer guarantees me a job, my certificate would only sit collecting dust. Just as the 2005 HSRC report revealed, “That youth constitutes the largest proportion of unemployment, and young people with little education, including women and rural youth are highly affected by the unemployment”. In our days, in order for one to be employed one has to bribe ones way into the labour market. That is why you find young ladies exchanging their bodies for a decent job; it is no longer the survival of the fittest but, it has become the survival of the daring. It is said that the we (the youth) are the future generation, but what generation we would be if most often than ever when we are mentioned in the media, we are associated with rape, murder, theft or other illegal habits. It is very rare that the youth is mentioned positively not unless it is June 16.

Today because of unemployment and lack of education you find young girls falling pregnant in order to access imali yeqolo (child support grant) in order to make a living. This year alone almost 3000 UKZN students who qualified for NSFAS did not return because of financial constraints, where is the government we voted for? Is education no longer the key to success? I fear for my future at this point in time. Money has become the bearer of all. Going into the cooperate world one would find that those with the opportunity of employment are not in their profession group, just as authors Bhorat and Lundall argued “that South Africa suffers from structural unemployment which is a direct result of a mismatch between job and person in the job” and they further argued “that the solution to this problem is skills development”. On a personal level, I think that government should introduce a system of training in Universities so to ensure skills development for youth; it is really devastating for a person in need of a job having to find it needs experience which they lack. Even if the person has the qualifications for the job, it is quite difficult to apply competing with others with experience. That is why one finds that not all unemployed youth are uneducated or unskilled; they simply lack the experience. I often wonder how one is ever going to find experience if one is never given the opportunity to learn as much. Surely one can learn whilst working in a particular position.

There is a lot that still needs to be addressed by our government in terms of youth employment. Government has to realise that the private sector has a lot to offer if only it could play its role; author Abedian  aptly put it that the private sector can easily absorb (hire) over 1 million learners if firms fulfil their role and the only obstacle to this is not money but commitment. He continues to state that private sector involvement in youth employment can be realised in form of Human Resource development, Youth economic empowerment as the youth is beginning to start their own businesses, as well as Procurement and enterprise development. To date, the private sectors have played a minimal role in youth development in this country yet it has a lot to offer.

However, I do not wish for it to seem as if the youth is sitting back waiting for the government to do everything. There are upcoming entrepreneurs who are making it for themselves, but it is not everyone who is capable of being a business owner. I wish that someday one could walk into a place of employment with a smile because they are doing what they love or that young people could wake up and go to go to work because our government has created jobs and the private sectors have lent a helping hand.

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