An exploration of the youth unemployment challenge within the Umgungundlovu District Municipality.
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The continual rise in the youth unemployment rate has had a damaging impact on the \nsocioeconomic stabilities of many nations across the world. In this regard, the ANC led \ngovernment of South Africa grapples with high rates of youth unemployment as one of the \nmost pressing challenges facing their administration. This is evident in recent labour report \nfrom Statistics South Africa (2019), which stated that the country has the highest youth \nunemployment rate (54.7 percent) of persons aged 15–24, compared to other nations. On this \nbackdrop, this study explored the youth unemployment challenge within five local \nmunicipalities in uMgungundlovu District Municipality of KwaZulu Natal, which are: \nMsunduzi, uMshwathi, uMngeni, Mpofana and Mkhambathini. The objectives of the study \nwere to understand the barriers preventing young people from finding employment within the \nDistrict Municipality; evaluate the level of skills, experience and competencies of unemployed \nyouths within the District Municipality; investigate the types of implemented programs geared \ntowards addressing youth unemployment; understand partnership strategies available amongst \nstakeholders in ensuring that employment opportunities are availed to youths and; understand \nthe lessons that can be learnt from the successes and failures of youth employment initiatives \nin the District Municipality. These objectives were achieved by adopting a qualitative \nmethodological approach using non-probability purposive and snowballing sampling \nprocedures to select a total sample size of thirty subjects from the target population consisting \nof five local municipalities mentioned above. A thematic content analysis of acquired data \nusing NVivo software revealed that the barriers to youth employment are; lack of required \nskills and qualifications, labour market rigidities, lack of industries in rural communities, lack \nof career guidance, low budget allocation to rural municipalities, high population growth and \npoverty in rural communities and corruption within government departments. The research \nfindings revealed that youth unemployment challenge can be addressed through a multipronged \nstrategy which includes all relevant stakeholders.
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3175873964