Youth and unemployment

Throughout the world, young people are two to three times more likely to find themselves unemployed. Some of the characteristic reasons for this are related to the following:

• Young people have no job history and no specific job skills;

• The “youth” consists of a high proportion of the total population and the growth rate of this group are high which exacerbates the youth unemployment rate;

• Education systems do not prepare young people for meaningful employment;

and

• Young people are generally not keen to readily accept manual jobs.

In Africa, youth unemployment is a growing problem, especially for young women. In Namibia, young women suffer higher unemployment rates than their counterpart males.

Data in 1997 showed that the unemployment rate was 41.4 per cent for females against a 32.9% rate for males. The rate was 37 per cent for both combined sexes. Similar data for South Africa showed an unemployment rate of 57.9 per cent for males compared to 53 per cent for females. Urban unemployment, among the male youth in Zambia increased from 30 to 49 per cent from 1990 to 2000 and the corresponding figures for females were from 40 to 53 per cent. There are serious socio-economic consequences related to youth

unemployment including contribution to higher levels of poverty and an increase in the number of street youth, which significantly contributes to crime such as robbery and drug abuse, as well as to social exclusion.

To meet the challenges of employment and unemployment for young people, policies, strategies and programmes are required to ensure that:

• Educational reforms respond to the labour market needs in terms of skills;

• Technical and vocational training needs are knowledge based to reflect changing socio-economic situations;

• Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), applications are improved;

• Youth employment is an integral component of the Poverty Reduction Pro-grammes;

• The specific education needs of girls who are historically disadvantaged com-pared to boys is taken into account;

• There is the involvement of the youth in the formulation and implementation of programmes affecting the youth;

• HIV/AIDS, youth and unemployment are addressed holistically;

• The sharing of best experiences on employment creation opportunities for the youth are in line with activities of ILO, United Nations Secretariat, the World Bank and other relevant specialized agencies.

In 1998, the South African Government announced a decision to set aside funds to create the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF), as shown in Box 1.2. The UYF was established in January 2001. The goal of UYF is to develop effective modes and approaches to youth and skills development that can be integrated into the functions of mainstream institutions and line ministries, thereby making youth development an integral part of socio-eco-nomic development. A similar programme, the National Open Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS), was introduced in 1987 in Nigeria as a means of linking education and training together and providing vocational education and training to unemployed youth in over 100 occupations.

Activities to address employment issues of young people worldwide have been increased since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Millennium Declaration in Sep-tember 2000 at the Millennium Summit. In Resolution 55/2, Heads of State and Gov-ernment resolved to “develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work”.

Subsequently, as follow-up to the Millennium Summit, A High-level Panel of the Youth Employment Network, formulated recommendations in November 2001, focusing on employability; equal opportunities for young men and young women; entrepreneurship;

and employment creation. This led to a United Nations General Assembly resolution in December 2002 on promoting youth employment it focused on promoting youth em-ployability, entrepreneurship, equal opportunities in favour of women, and employment creation.

Box 1.2: Highlights on the South African Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF)

• Umsobomvu is an Nguni word which means “arising dawn”. It symbolizes the rising of new opportunities for South African young people;

• UYF is the single largest investment that the South African Government has made in sup-port of the development of young people in the country;

• UYF is an outcome of the concerted struggles by young people for positive inputs into their development. It is also an outcome of over 10 years of discussion, consultation and debate in the youth sector;

• The role of the UYF is to make strategic investments that can facilitate opportunities for young people to: acquire skills, access job opportunities and/or create meaningful em-ployment for themselves by creating viable small businesses.

• The UFY is part of the overall National Human Resource Development Strategy by the government to create a skills base that can meet the challenges of a rapidly changing South African economy;

• In designing and conceptualizing the strategy, the UFY works with key partners and role players in the youth development and youth employment field. This involves identifying and understanding the needs of young people and programme that work;

• The key to the UFY approach is to develop knowledge and experience base that will inform the nature of youth employment, training and policy, as well as to ensure a strong and effective programme that delivers services to the young;

• The goal of UYF is to develop effective modes and approaches to youth and skills de-velopment which can be integrated into the way in which mainstream institutions and line ministries function, thereby making youth development an integral part of socio-eco-nomic development;

• Based on an integrated model of youth development, all UYF programme have three fundamental elements that cut across all programme areas: life skills, academic/techni-cal skills, and practiacademic/techni-cal work experience;

• UYF has created partnerships with the National Youth Commission, South African Youth Council, key government ministries such as, Education, Labour Trade and Industry as well as civil society organizations that have strong connections to young people and their communities;

• The initial fund of the UYF was R1 billion.

Source: Website: wwf.uyf.org.za

3.7.4 Framework for addressing employment in Southern