Looking for a job costs more each month than the youth actually earn
Not trusting SA’s education, and the youth’s dearth of skills, companies fill positions with external contractors, temporary staff and freelancers
There is no denying that youth unemployment is an intractable problem in SA, with numerous studies referring to it as a multi-faceted issue. The biggest issues cited involve the evolving nature of the labour market and mismatches between the skills needed in the labour market and those provided through the educational system. Research also indicates that a key challenge facing young job seekers, in particular, is the fact that SA’s labour market favours highly skilled employees. In addition, South African employers, in their apparent distrust of the quality of education received by young people, have raised the bar for entry into low-level jobs even higher. Unfortunately, by escalating the basic educational requirements for entry-level jobs, employers are effectively shutting out a large pool of potentially-good young employees. The uneven quality of SA’s public schooling system further exacerbates inequality when it comes to opportunities to find employment. Geographic location als...
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