Johannesburg - University students may have won their war against the university fee increases, but away from the institutions of higher learning once they graduate, many face the lone struggle of unemployment.
But it’s bleaker for young people under the age of 25 and without matric. They struggle the most to find work, according to the latest figures released on Tuesday by Statistics SA.
“They have already been marginalised,” said Kefiloe Masiteng, Stats SA’s deputy director-general for population and social statistics.
“For every five young persons who were not in employment, education and training, three of them have an education level below matric.”
The Stats SA report said that overall, the country’s unemployment rate had increased to 25.5 percent, up from 25 percent three months ago.
Officially, there are 5.4 million people of working age (15 to 64 years) who are unemployed and actively seeking work. If the 2.9 million people who’d like a job but have given up looking for one are added, the unemployment rate is 34.4 percent.
The employment figures are still way off the National Development Plan targets, which aims for 24 million people to be employed by 2030 and unemployment to drop to 6 percent.
The youth are 55 percent of the working age population but are only 40 percent of those employed.
There are 19.8 million young people, with just 6.4 million of them employed.
Another 3.5 million youth are officially unemployed, an unemployment rate of 36 percent compared to the unemployment rate of 17 percent for those aged between 35 and 64.
There are 1.5 million youth who have given up looking for work.
The remaining 8.4 million young people aren’t economically active.
And within that group, the youngest face the most difficult challenges.
“Youth aged 15 to 24 years are more disadvantaged in the labour market compared to those aged 25 to 34 years,” said Masiteng.
She said the youth unemployment rate was the lowest among graduates, at 9.2 percent.
Most of the not economically active 8.4 million young people are not in tertiary education: the Department of Higher Education and Training budget says there are about a million students at universities and another million at colleges, and the college count is now acknowledged to be an overcount.
The report indicates 171 000 new jobs were created in the past three months, while 188 000 were lost. Most new jobs were in trade and construction, while mining remained unchanged and job losses were recorded in transport, private homes, utilities and finance.
The informal sector added 60 000 jobs in the three months.
Despite this, the situation remains bleak for graduates like Thando Ngeno.
The 22-year-old unemployed graduate from Roodepoort shared her frustration at needing experience to get a job and needing a job to get experience.
“When you get to varsity they don’t tell you how tough it becomes after you graduate. My biggest challenge is not being able to get a job in my field of study, and it’s so difficult because I keep volunteering at places but that doesn’t guarantee a job,” she said yesterday.
Ngeno, who graduated with a BA in health sciences, says her peers are experiencing the same thing. “Some managed to get jobs but none in what they studied. It’s very frustrating.”
Economist Dawie Roodt said the outlook for the country’s economy was uninspiring.
“The actual unemployment rate is higher. It’s probably at 38 percent because they’re not taking into account the people who have simply stopped looking for jobs at all,” he said.
Roodt identified some of the reasons for the high unemployment rate.
“First, the economy is not growing fast enough, and then there is unfriendly labour legislation. It’s difficult to fire people, so people aren’t hired, for example.
“Then there are the labour organisations who are very well organised but are militant and destructive. Finally, the country has weak skills levels.”
The Star
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