ExploringthestateofyouthunemploymentinSouthAfricaADisasterinthemaking.docVIP

Exploring the state of youth unemployment in South Africa: A Disaster in the making Thulani Guliwe (National Labour and Economic Development Institute) Table of Contents Pages 1. Introduction 1 2. Economic Overview of South Africa 2 2.1. Earnings and income inequalities 4 2.2. Agriculture, Ownership and Poverty in rural areas 5 2.3. Investment trends 6 3. Employment trends in South Africa 7 3.1. Definition of the employed and unemployed 13 3.2. Discouraged work seekers 18 3.3. Gender and unemployment 23 4. The history of youth unemployment in South Africa 25 4.1. Government and Youth Unemployment 28 4.2. Localising or aligning youth programme 30 4.3. Reconstruction and Development Programme and youth 31 5. Unemployed graduates 32 6. Labour Market legislations and Unemployment 34 7. Trade unionism and unemployment 36 8. Trade Unions and welfare system 36 9. Youth unemployment and labour markets 37 10. Youth unemployment strategies 42 10.1. The National Youth Service 43 10.2. Umsobomvu Youth Fund 46 10.3. Skills Development Programme 48 11. Current unemployment youth challenges 48 12. Conclusion 49 13. References 51 List of Tables and figures Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Figure 1. Figue 2. 1. Introduction Globally, the number of young people is about to become the largest in history relative to the adult population. At present, more than 50 percent of the population is under the age of 25, or just over three billion individuals are youth or children. In terms of youth alone (age 15-24), there are over 1.3 billion youth in the world today. This means that approximately one person in five is between the age of 15 and 24 years, or 17 percent of the world’s population is ’youth’ (United Nations Population Fund,1998:1). The problem of youth unemployment is rapidly assuming dangerous proportions in many countries as their