Youth Unemployment- The tale of a vulnerable society 27 years later into Democracy.

The term ‘unemployment’ has caused anxiety to the regular South African youth in a country where dreams and promises were made to them and of course, to us all.

However, the purpose of this mini-article is not to mud-sling the efforts of the South African government in a post-pandemic society or criticize a good portion of our politicians as this would be counterproductive. Instead, it is to highlight the severity of our social ills such as the unemployment rate amongst our youth, in the hopes to raise awareness and finally drive a campaign of change and sustainability for future generations to come.

As it stands today, the unemployment rate in South Africa measures 32.6%. The terminology can be defined as ‘persons who are unemployed but is willing and able to work and actively seek employment.’? When the definition of unemployment is fully expanded, the stats point to a staggering rate of 43.2% overall unemployment rate in the country. Youth accounting for the ages of 15-24 years old is considered the most vulnerable age range within the labour market, with a whopping record of 46.3% in the 1st quarter of 2021, according to Stats SA (2021).

Within the 1st Quarter of 2021, as highlighted by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the results indicate that the approximate 10.2 million persons ranging from the ages of 15-24 years old, 32.4% of these young individuals fall under the Non-Employed, Educated, and Training (NEET) category. The NEET rate for males and females respectively decreased by 1.6 and 1.8 percentage points; however, the rates for females remain higher than that of their male counterparts.?

These statistics are quite burdening, to say the least, because youth ranging from 15-24 or 15-34 make up the bulk statistic of the total number of unemployed persons in South Africa. This demonstrates an enormous levianthan monster that feeds on two of its curses in the country—poverty, and crime.

When illustrated by Trading Economics (2020), a 5–10-year forecast portrayed the youth unemployment rate (15-24 years old) slightly increase over the years, highlighting a concern of the overall impact these statistics have played in the country.?

What are we doing wrong that sees a country such as South Africa has a youth unemployment rate increase at such an alarming pace??

How do we compare with other countries around the world?

What we deem a nightmare reality of the youth unemployment rate in South Africa is what many of our foreign counterparts would agree with without reasonable doubt. According to Statista (2021), South Africa’s youth unemployment rate is one of the highest by far on the record amongst G20 countries. The G20 (Group of 20) is an intergovernmental forum that comprises 19 countries and the European Union to implement policy coordination to achieve global economic stability. South Africa is the only African member of the G20 working alongside Brazil, the US, Australia, China, France and other surrounding states.

This leads on to the next question, how can we as South African civil society get involved?

In all honesty, no ''vaccine'' can cure youth unemployment, let alone the symptoms that accompany it. However, what we can do as a society is to support the concept of entrepreneurship, reassess our educational system in terms of offering career guidance that can encourage skills within the artisan trade, encourage our government to provide fair opportunities for the disadvantaged communities, and most importantly encourage our corporates to create partnerships with schools to provide training and skill set opportunities.

As long as the rainbow nation stays hopeful, surely the brightness of its colours will be the very light at the end of the tunnel, which sees our perseverance and unity breaking the bondages of social, cultural, economic, and political oppression--the same way our Nelson Mandela envisioned when he painted the idea using our hearts as his canvas of expression.

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