An exploration of the youth unemployment challenge within the Umgungundlovu District Municipality.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
The continual rise in the youth unemployment rate has had a damaging impact on the
socioeconomic stabilities of many nations across the world. In this regard, the ANC led
government of South Africa grapples with high rates of youth unemployment as one of the
most pressing challenges facing their administration. This is evident in recent labour report
from Statistics South Africa (2019), which stated that the country has the highest youth
unemployment rate (54.7 percent) of persons aged 15–24, compared to other nations. On this
backdrop, this study explored the youth unemployment challenge within five local
municipalities in uMgungundlovu District Municipality of KwaZulu Natal, which are:
Msunduzi, uMshwathi, uMngeni, Mpofana and Mkhambathini. The objectives of the study
were to understand the barriers preventing young people from finding employment within the
District Municipality; evaluate the level of skills, experience and competencies of unemployed
youths within the District Municipality; investigate the types of implemented programs geared
towards addressing youth unemployment; understand partnership strategies available amongst
stakeholders in ensuring that employment opportunities are availed to youths and; understand
the lessons that can be learnt from the successes and failures of youth employment initiatives
in the District Municipality. These objectives were achieved by adopting a qualitative
methodological approach using non-probability purposive and snowballing sampling
procedures to select a total sample size of thirty subjects from the target population consisting
of five local municipalities mentioned above. A thematic content analysis of acquired data
using NVivo software revealed that the barriers to youth employment are; lack of required
skills and qualifications, labour market rigidities, lack of industries in rural communities, lack
of career guidance, low budget allocation to rural municipalities, high population growth and
poverty in rural communities and corruption within government departments. The research
findings revealed that youth unemployment challenge can be addressed through a multipronged
strategy which includes all relevant stakeholders.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.