Young South Africans spend an average of R1293.82 per month looking for work.
This is according to a survey by Open Dialogue. A total of 2 200 participants took part in the survey.
The R1293.82 is split between transport costs (R478.41), internet costs (R464.73) and other costs (R350.38) such as printing, application fees and food.
Of those who took part in the survey, 27.3% spent six hours a week looking for work, 26.5% spent 24 hours a week, 18.8% spent 10 hours per week, 15.6% spent up to 3 hours a week and 11.9% spent an average of 16 hours a week job hunting.
Of the respondents, 74.9% had been looking for work in the past three months, and 84% felt forced to choose between looking for a job and having money for food and bills.
Unemployment in South Africa hit record levels in the third quarter of 2021.
According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), the rate of unemployment increased by 0.5 percentage points in the three months to September to reach 34.9%, up from 34.4% in the second quarter.
This is the highest unemployment rate in the country since 2008.
Kerry Morris, chief executive of The Tower Group, said the government should assist with more paid learnerships to train young people. With this they could achieve a valid qualification before entering the workplace.
But what can the country’s youth do to increase their chances of employment?
“First would be for them to try and get some in-service training and try to upskill themselves in computer literacy,” she said. The aim was to equip yourself with skills that you could put on your CV, she added.
“Recruiters are also inundated with CVs when they have advertised a job, so my advice to the youth would be for them to only apply to roles that match their skills and experience to avoid disappointment,” said Morris.
“They should always arrive at an interview dressed in their best outfit ready to impress the interviewer and they should always be enthusiastic about learning and about starting at an entry level and working their way up.”
Focusing on the role of teachers and lecturers, Morris said providing more career counselling or guidance would go far in assisting pupils to narrow down their career choices, which were “always difficult” to make at tertiary level.
“With some guidance, they might leave knowing the direction in which they want to go” she said.
Morris added that the critical skills shortage was increasingly impacting businesses.
“I would love to see the unemployed being upskilled specifically in the critical skills shortage areas. This would help to turn around our unemployment rate in South Africa.”
IOL