Editor's note
In South Africa, December signifies the start of the summer break, which is supposed to include festivities and recuperation for a new year. But, as the economy continues to slump, many young people approach this time with trepidation as they await academic results that will determine their future employment prospects, or face another year of fruitless job applications.
In February 2019, GroundUp, a news agency that focuses on the human rights of vulnerable communities, published a series of heart-wrenching testimonies of unemployment. A man who had dropped out of school in grade 10 sells empty beer bottles to shebeens for 50c a bottle. He eats once a day. A woman collects scrap metal to put her daughter through matric and dreams of sending her to university. With statistics showing that a third of unemployed South Africans have matric and that 9% have tertiary qualifications, she is possibly unaware that these qualifications may no longer guarantee employment or financial security.
Labour-force statistics indicate that the official unemployment rate in South Africa rose to 29% in the second quarter of 2019, the highest in a decade. In peri-urban or township areas, 6 out of 10 people are unemployed, warned Bongiwe Beja, a youth stream manager at Youth Employment Service at a recent HSRC seminar.
In this edition of the HSRC Review, we report on this seminar where experts from the World Bank also shared shocking statistics from its human capital index, which indicate that South Africa is not preparing its youth for the labour market.
Presenters shared the latest work on the HSRC’s Labour Market Intelligence Partnership. Now in its second phase, some of the work entails researchers and the government working together to produce a list of occupations in high demand along with a list of important skills in supply and demand to understand the imbalances between the two. This is because the government wants to dedicate resources to train people with relevant skills.
Other articles focus on the HSRC’s involvement in innovation activities, boosting tourism and research on public attitudes about the impact of technological advancement on employment opportunities.
But it is a race against time. As the World Bank experts pointed out at the seminar, the problem starts with a low level of learning during the early school years, with challenges related to insufficient teacher training, not being instructed in a home language and learners not learning to read properly. We have covered some of these issues in previous editions of the HSRC Review.
On the topic of home language, we report on a symposium on language practices in South Africa’s higher education institutions held in September 2019. Presenters pondered the neglect of African language instruction and prevailing anglonormativity, the expectation that people should be proficient in English, and how those who are not are often excluded.
As December is typically characterised by increased holiday spending followed by a traditionally meagre January, this edition includes an article on indebtedness, which is based on a thought-provoking chapter of the HSRC’s book, Poverty and Inequality: Diagnosis, Prognosis and Responses. Prof Deborah James of the London School of Economics looks at how aspirations of upward mobility, poor credit regulation and relationships of obligation, duty and care have made people vulnerable to unscrupulous credit providers since 1994. Understanding how difficult many South Africans find it to repudiate family and cultural obligations to secure their own financial futures is crucial for improved financial education in the country.
This is only a glimpse into a bumper December edition. Please feel free to communicate with the HSRC Review team and researchers on the emails provided below each article and all the best for 2020.
Antoinette