The youth unemployment crisis is the single most acute reminder of the fact that our democracy is hamstrung.
In the crisis we see the intersection of poor education outcomes, a stagnant economy and a social consensus that sees far too many unable to get a foot on the ladder to a better life. The three main elements that continue to plague the nation — poverty, unemployment and inequality — are more prevalent among the youth of SA than any other group.
Core to the problem is the ongoing and widening articulation gap between skills development avenues — colleges and universities — and the world of work. Naturally for a country where far too few make it to higher education, the problem is even bigger for those who cannot access these skills development avenues.
While in theory students should exit the basic education system with some degree of employability, albeit in sectors that are more vocational in nature, this is simply not happening. This leaves young people vulnerable to being trapped in an economic limbo that is impossible to escape without some form of intervention.
While in theory students should exit the basic education system with some degree of employability, albeit in sectors that are more vocational in nature, this is simply not happening
Sadly for us, hardly any interventions exist aimed at dealing with young people who are unable to access training or employment. Tragically, the failure to gain access to the workplace worsens prospects of future employability.
For those who can access some form of post-school education, the chances of accessing the world of work improve dramatically. But when the education system fails to connect with the workplace, young people struggle to adapt to the workplace. This creates an additional burden borne primarily by employers: to reskill and upskill job entrants just to make them employable. Naturally, to reduce this burden employers favour those with prior work experience as this is an indication that they are already some way along the adaptability curve. This experience requirement has been cited as one of the key reasons young people struggle to access work.
In response to this problem, the government recently announced that it will look into dropping experience as a requirement for jobs in the public service. It is envisaged that eliminating this perceived barrier to access will assist young people.
The key issue, however, is that the public service itself has a limited number of posts that are available at entry level. And if the private sector doesn’t shift towards the same approach, the impact will be low. In addition, in spite of the official stance of dropping the experience requirement, recruiters will always gravitate towards selecting a candidate with some sign of workplace experience.
In essence, the impact of the directive by public service and administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo will be to allow young people with no experience to be given a chance to be assessed. It is here where the gaps in our education system will again come to the fore. For as long as little attention is paid to equipping students with soft skills during their study years, their chances of outscoring experienced applicants when applying for the same job will be marginal.
If Dlodlo’s plan is to make a difference, we need to be able not only to give them a fair chance of being interviewed, but also amplify their chances of being able to succeed in the interview.
This is not an impossible task. The state already has multiple agencies aligned to youth matters. Such agencies need to be leveraged to implement measures aimed at bridging the soft skills and work awareness gap. If we are going to give this idea a chance to succeed, we need a holistic offering rather than the mere elimination of one barrier.
That being said, the reality is that in a stagnant economy SA is going to struggle to find work opportunities even at the entry level for young people, and the youth unemployment crisis will only get worse.
• Sithole (@coruscakhaya) is a chartered accountant, academic and activist.
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