The post Young People’s Views on Unemployment in South Africa appeared first on Karibu – A Working Class News.
Every year in South Africa, the is a huge excitement toward matric results and during every graduation season, there is a renewal of hopes and dreams as we see individuals sharing their education stories and victory on social media as they obtain their degrees. But the reality is that most of those dreams will not be realised as there are not enough job opportunities in South Africa. According to Statistics SA released in August 2024, the official unemployment rate rose to 33.5% in the second quarter of 2024. It rose from 32.9% in the first quarter of 2024, more than 92,000 jobs were lost in the three months to June. This raised concerns from those who are still at school and those who want to pursue their studies and find employment soon.
In this article we look at the views and concerns of different young people from Johannesburg regarding the unemployment statistics, what this it means to them and how are they planning against this reality.
Emmanuel Sibanda From Mahlasedi High School in Midrand, shared that his concerns are about higher production costs and inflation which leads to lot of businesses cutting cost, this means even if a job is supposed to be done by two people, only one person can be employed to cut labour costs. Sibanda feels that at this moment he has no choices, he must achieve good grades that will allow him to further his studies at tertiary level whilst improving his personal skills.
Mpendulo Kunene from Jules High School said that the Department of education and the government doesn’t really consider investing much into our education, our schools are not 100% safe. Drugs, crime and teenage pregnancy are serious issues we face in our schools, which means the is a huge drop-out rate leading to high unemployment. The Department of education also prioritise learners who received high marks but at the same time they want us as student to think it’s okay when we received 30% pass rate instead of them investing more on extra lessons and proper learning materials to receive hight marks. I believe it is better to be affected by unemployment having tertiary education, it increases chances of being employed than an average person who hasn’t finished matric.
Sandile Sibeko (not his real name) said Our educators always emphasise the need for us to concentrate on our academic responsibilities rather than on sports, arts and culture activities that will not benefit us (economically) in the future. I think we can also use our talents to combat the unemployment challenge. But, now at school we are focusing on receiving higher marks and passing matric. I think if after university things don’t go out as planned we might actually pursue our talents and learned skills to create our jobs.
Nomaswazi Msimango From Kensington Secondary School expressed, said she was not worried. She believes the Law industry that she wants to pursue doesn’t have a lot of people, she wants to become a lawyer and she beliefs she will not be affected by unemployment.
Young Makitaza a trap musician and a street vendor at Jules Park station said there is a lot that young people can do for themselves. “You see those toilets; you can clean them and approach the department for a stipend at least that will be the start of doing something for yourself,” said Makitaza. We can’t continue blaming people, government and pointing fingers but young people “Vuka Uzenzele” (do it yourself) no one will do it for you. The Department of Education must also invest in skills education, our parents sent us to school because they thought we would work but nowadays that is not the case, it’s not guaranteed, Makitaza said.
Kwandile Nxumalo a student at City Rand College, he is currently pursuing Business Studies and Economics. His main interest is entrepreneurship, he aims to establish his own business by using the skills and knowledge he acquires at the college. He emphasised the importance of being your own boss, noting that in today’s economic and employment challenges young people must rely on their skills to succeed.
