Job Opportunities and Unemployment - Department of Labour

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While the South African education system has undergone several reforms to include a large number ofcitizens, the benefits are not directly observed in the labour market. As it was expected, Table 2, above showsthat unemployment is high among people with no tertiary qualification and low among people with tertiaryqualification. A worrying factor is that in South Africa, unemployment among the educated is increasingly becominga phenomenon. According to Strydom 6 , people with higher educational qualifications become frustrated moreeasily if they do not find a job and this increases the risk of crime and civil unrest.The changes from quarter one of 2010 and quarter one 2011 portrays that the number of the unemployeddecreased by 31 000 and that the decrease was mostly recorded in the category “less than primary schoolcompleted” and “primary completed” with 66 000, followed by the “tertiary” with 19 000. The data further showsthat the category “secondary completed” recorded an increase of 65 000 in the number of the unemployed. Thisis the most important educational school category to monitor where it is always reported with a large number ofdrop-out in search for employment.Figure 3: Unemployment level by age group, 2010/20112 0001 8001 6001 4001 2001 000800600400200015-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64April to June 2010July to September 2010October to December 2010January to March 20111 405 1 764 778 355 1001 364 1 791 801 354 871 240 1 738 758 324 761 289 1 868 780 356 71Source: Stats S.A, Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), own calculationsFigure 3, above demonstrates the number of the unemployed by age group. The data has continued to expose thefragility of the youth in the labour market as highlighted in the previous reports and the global employment trendsfor the youth reports 7 . As it is expected, unemployment is high in the youth (age group 15 to 34 years) and loweramong the adults (above 35 years).The number of unemployed people decreased dramatically by 59 000 in the age group 15 to 24 years betweenquarter one of 2010 and quarter one of 2011, however it increased in the same age group between quarter four of2010 and quarter one of 2011 by 49 000. On the other hand, the number of the unemployed in the age group 25to 34 years has shown an irregular trend. The number of the unemployed in the age group 25 to 34 increased by 59000 between quarter one of 2010 and quarter one of 2011 and then it increased dramatically by 130 000 betweenquarter four of 2010 and quarter one of 2011. All the job losses in 2010/11 were mostly experienced by this agegroup category, with less education level as shown in Table 2 above.6 Strydom, P.D.F (2003), Work and employment in the information economy. South African Journal of Economics. Vol 71:1, March.7 Global employment trends for the youth, August 20107
Following this, Begum 8 argues that the youth workforce is mostly demanded in the sales and customer services andelementary occupations and adults are mostly absorbed in the plant and machine operators, managers and seniorofficials occupational categories.8 Begum, N., (2004) Employment by occupation and industry Labour Market Division, Office for National Statistics, June 20048
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Page 6 and 7: IntroductionThe dilemma in the Sout
Page 8 and 9: 1. Overview of the labour force tre
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