The Untold Truth About Unemployment

Amy Vides

Ms. Bennett

World Lit Honors 2nd Period

15 March 2016

The Untold Truth About Unemployment

“We march today for jobs. We march for the freedom that having work brings. We cannot build a prosperous future for South Africa when 8.4 million South Africans are unemployed,” Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane shouts amongst cheers from the huge crowd. On January 26, 2016 thousands of opposition supporters belonging to South Africa’s Democratic Alliance took to the streets of Johannesburg to protest against widespread unemployment (Farhaoui). Throughout the years, South Africa’s unemployment has been rapidly increasing. Without a stable job for many South Africans, there is worry cast over citizens as unemployment leads to other issues, such as not being able to buy food or pay for other expenses. Not only that, but unemployment is also the main reason why poverty is increasing as well. Around, 2.2 million people live in poverty and around half of those people are in poverty due to unemployment (Farhaoui). But what exactly is causing the unemployment rates to skyrocket each year?

Despite South Africa’s triumph of ending apartheid, there is still a divide on race which creates difficulty in getting an appropriate job for many black South Africans. Racism is a factor that plays in the workplace more often than thought of. According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, the white per capita is more than eight times that of black (Chiles). A survey done by Vertex Commercial Service found that 95% of black participants felt that their careers were being impeded by some sort discrimination, most having to do with the color of their skin (Thomson). The people also feel unworthy in these situations since all the participants felt that even though some are given the same job title as their white colleagues, they are not offered the same depth of job responsibilities. Although these participants hold jobs, Lee-Anne Thomson, director of the survey, states that this is exactly what causes people to get fired or have difficulties in finding their jobs. In the year 2014, it was found that 28.6% of blacks were unemployed compared to only 7.3% of whites. The gap between these two races shows which people are suffering the most. In the same year, it was also found that 1.5 million out of the 5 millions unemployed have been constantly looking for a job for more than five years (Chiles). Many of the people could have been not qualified for the position, but half of these people were judged by two major factors: their social economic status and race.

Many of the unemployment issues affect young people, who lack education. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the unemployment rate of those aged 15-24 is around 50% - the third highest in the world after Greece and Spain (Oosthuizen--Morné). These young people lack strong networks or social capital that allow them to source job opportunities, and tend not to have sufficient financial resources to enable mobility to areas where there is demand for labor (Muller). But that is not the only problem young South Africans face. Since the typical curriculum in South Africa does not consist of industrial skills, it produces many graduates with non-transferable skills (Yueh). So when they are ready to get out to the workforce, it is likely that they’ll be ruled out or fired for not having the adequate skills for the job. However, like Africa News states, it is crucial to expose students to the skills necessary for an appropriate job by having career guidance be provided in school. This can highly increase the skills needed to ensure that more youths are able to get an employment in the future (Avina).

Unemployment is an issue that cannot be ignored in South Africa. Not only does this affect the economy, but the African people as well. The reason unemployment is expanding throughout South Africa is due to two main reasons: racism in the work place and the lack of a stable education. However, these two issues can be resolved by making more equality laws targeting the workplace and having career guidance at school. Currently, South Africa is passing through some difficult post-apartheid issues. Let us hope that South Africa will take an approach to ending the conflict that is causing more and more people to fall into poverty.

Works Cited

Avina, Jeffery. "Career Guidance Will End Youth Unemployment.” Africa News Service. Global Issues In Context. 24 Feb. 2016. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

Chiles, Nick. "Wage Gap Between Blacks, Whites Threatens to Tear South Africa Apart." Atlanta Black Star. 04 Sept. 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

Farhaoui, Fouad. "Thousands Protest Unemployment in South Africa." Turkish Weekly. Turkish Weekly, 27 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Mar. 2016.

Muller, Rudolph. "South Africa Unemployment Is Worse Now than at the End of Apartheid." BusinessTech.

BusinessTech, 17 Aug. 2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.

Oosthuizen, Morné-- Aalia, Cassim. "The State of Youth Unemployment in South Africa." The Brookings

Institution. The Brookings Institution, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

Yueh, Linda. "The Jobs Challenge Facing South Africa." BBC News. BBC News, 9 May 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.