WeeklySA_AdminSURVEY:Lack of work experience remains among major obstacle to access jobs
By Thuli Zungu
This year marks the 45th anniversary since the youth uprisings in 1976 and the future of the youth looks bleak with unemployment reaching its calamity.
According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey ( QLFS) of the first quarter of 2021, young people are still struggling to access jobs in the South African labour market.Its report shows that the official unemployment rate among youth aged between 15 and 34 years was 46,3% in the first Quarter of 2021. The rate was 9,3% among university graduates. When the new democracy government was ushered in 1994, and June 16 declared a national day and June a youth month, the focus was on the youth under the theme: “The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society,” says the report.
What strides have we made in ensuring our youth have better opportunities for employment in South Africa? Is the question posed by the report. According to the report, education and prior work experience play an important role in the labour market because employers often prefer to employ those with previous work experience and a higher level of education.
“Unfortunately for the youth, lack of work experience is a stumbling block that results in them finding it hard to secure employment, the report reads
Those with jobs are often concentrated in trade, agriculture and finance and other business services industries, it says. Low and semi-skilled youth employment is concentrated in the trade industry, while high-skilled youth employment is in the community and social services as well as finance and other business services industries.
In most cases, young people have contracts that have unspecified duration or the contracts are of a limited duration, and consequently do not have access to employee benefits such as medical aid, pension fund, paid sick leave and permanent employment. Sadly, some of these young people have become discouraged from participating in the labour market and they are also not building on their skills base through education and training – they are not in the employment, education or training (NEET) sphere, it says
The unemployment-rate among the youth is high irrespective of education level. Other points raised by the report are that:
• The graduate unemployment-rate was 40,3% among those aged 15–24 and 15,5% among those aged between 25 and 34 years, while the rate among adults aged between 35 and 64 years was 5,4%.
• The results of the (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2021 show that the number of employed persons remained almost unchanged at nearly 15 million (a slight decrease of 28 000) in the first quarter of 2021.
• The number of unemployed persons also remained almost unchanged at 7,2 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 (increased by 8 000).
• The number of discouraged work seekers increased by 201 000 (6,9%), and the number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement decreased by 38 000 (0,3%) between the two quarters, resulting in a net increase of 164 000 in the not economically active population.
• Formal sector employment increased by 79 000 while the other sectors experienced declines in employment in quarter 1 2021.
• Informal sector employment decreased by 19 000 (0,8%); private households by 70 000 (5,8%), and employment in Agriculture decreased by 18 000 (2,2%).
• Some industries created jobs while others lost jobs between the fourth quarter in 2020 and the first quarter in 2021, resulting in a net decline of 28000 in total employment.
• Employment mainly increased in finance (up by 215 000) and other industries that had job gains include community and social services (16 000), utilities (16 000), mining (12 000) and manufacturing (7 000).
• Job losses were observed in construction (87 000), trade (84 000), private households (70 000), transport (40 000) and agriculture (18 000) sectors.
