Tag: youth unemployment

As we navigate the turmoil and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, all eyes are on keeping each other safe while preparing for a post-pandemic world. The custodians of this post-pandemic future are young people – and when one considers that the official unemployment rate for people under 35 in South Africa is 46.3%, the urgency of meaningful and sustained youth empowerment cannot be understated.

The latest Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) shows that 74.7% of youth (aged 15-24) in South Africa are unemployed. According to the expanded definition of joblessness, this takes youth unemployment to a 14 year record high in the first quarter of 2021.

With South Africa’s BPO industry voted the most favoured offshore CX delivery location in 2021 in the annual Ryan Strategic Advisory BPO Omnibus Survey, the burgeoning sector is well positioned to play a critical role in ‘Impact Sourcing’. 

Entrepreneurship can be defined as the discovery and exploitation of opportunities. One identifies a need and comes up with a solution to remedy the problem, on a great scale whilst making a profit. Easy to define but not so easy to execute.

National Treasury has indicated that it will assess the viability of a future wealth tax, as it collects more data in the coming months following the recommendations of the Davis Tax Committee. South African Revenue Service (SARS) will focus on consolidating wealth data for taxpayers through third-party information, Treasury said in its 2021 budget review.

South Africa’s access to healthcare and housing is 'increasingly deteriorating', according to the 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG). The IIAG assesses governance in 54 African countries based on public goods and services that citizens have a right to expect from their governments, and the responsibility of a government to deliver.

In 2020, technology is set to continue transforming organisations and skills needs are evolving rapidly. As organisations focus on sustainability, relevance and sourcing and retaining talent, job seekers will need to focus on learnability and skills development.

Youth unemployment is a national crisis affecting millions of South Africans. According to Stats SA, the burden of unemployment is concentrated amongst the youths (aged 15-34 years) as they account for 63,4% of the total number of unemployed persons in 2019.

Most governments in Africa share the common problem of high youth unemployment. Global economic forces and decisions of powerhouses like Britain and America are increasingly impacting growth of African economies. African countries have thus found themselves on the back foot and unable to stimulate their economies sufficiently to create jobs, especially in the formal sector.