By Mzukona Mantshontsho
https://www.facebook.com/StateofSmallBusiness – The State of Small Business is a platform and a movement to change the mindsets of young people, particularly the unemployed and unemployable.
The official unemployment rate stands at 32,1%, an increase of 0,2 of a percentage point in Q4:2023 compared to Q3:2023.
While the unemployment rates in WC and KZN have consistently been below the official unemployment rate in SA for the past 10 years, the unemployment rate in EC has continuously exceeded it. The unemployment rate increased in 6 provinces between Q3:2023 and Q4:2023.
The largest increase was recorded in EC up by 3,1 percentage points. Youth aged 15-24 years and 25-34 years continue to have the highest unemployment rates at 59,4% and 39,0% respectively.
Unemployed youth are characterised by their lack of employability resulting from a range of socio-economic factors. They often have low levels of education, have dropped out of school and invariably do not have the literacy, numeracy and communication skills needed in the labour market. They also have little work experience, which is a particularly undesirable characteristic for employers.
These young people lack strong networks or social capital that allow them to source job opportunities and tend not to have sufficient financial resources to enable mobility to areas where there is demand for labour.
Of those who do have resources available as a result of their family support or network, they often have unrealistically high reservation wages, thereby resulting in relatively long periods of unsuccessful searching.
These socio-economic factors have resulted in a gap between productivity and entry-level wages for young workers, which is a constraint on job creation.
