The Youth Labour Market in South Africa

Unemployment has been a stubborn challenge in South Africa, with at least a quarter of the labour force unemployed for most of the past twenty-five years. For youth the transition from schooling to work has not been smooth, resulting in about half of youth wanting jobs not finding employment. This chapter begins by highlighting the key features of the youth labour market. The discussion then turns to reasons for the relatively high youth unemployment rate, such as insufficient number of jobs and spatial planning. An account of implemented policies and interventions to address youth unemployment is then given. The chapter makes the point that economic growth is key to reducing youth unemployment on a large scale but that there are various measures that have been found to be effective in relieving the plight of unemployed youth in South Africa.

“(IM)MOBILE PRECARITY” AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

Mobility for work and education among young people has been a key feature of contemporary life. Drawing on focus groups with youth living in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as key informant interviews with people who work for community-based organizations that serve youth, I examine the relationship between young people’s employment- and education-related geographical mobilities and precarity. I draw on recent insights from scholars examining precarity as grounded in both labouring conditions and ontological experience. In foregrounding the experiences and subjectivities of poor and working-class youth, I show how the structure of youth labour markets and of education and training cheapens youth labour, with implications for youth’s capacity for independence. In a context of broader regimes of mobility associated with resource extraction, young people without formal qualifications live precarious lives: they move from job to job and place to place, and rely on family and friends to support their housing and other needs. In this context of uncertainty and labour market volatility, youth expressed disorientation regarding decisions about work, education, and mobility, reflecting the high stakes of not making the “right” choice, and developed a pragmatic approach to work as a way to make a living rather than a pathway to a meaningful life. I conclude by situating these findings as a critique not just of precarity but of capitalist economic arrangements more broadly, with implications for the kinds of solutions that can address structural class inequalities.

Work and Life Balance of the Change Generation: Results of The V St Petersburg International Youth Labour Forum

On the 21st of April 2021 in Saint Petersburg there was an anniversary International Youth Labour Forum, which once again united young people, representatives of business, education and government officials to discuss the situation on the labour market and offer solutions for the career development of Generation Z. At the scientific Conference “Life and Labor balance of Generation Z” held within the framework of the Forum, the main values of modern youth and their career strategies were discussed.

Determinants of Youth Labour Absorption in Indonesia

This study aims to determine how: the provincial minimum wage affects youth labour absorption in Indonesia; the regional economic conditions affect youth labour absorption in Indonesia; the level of education affects youth labour absorption in Indonesia; the effects of elderly people working on youth labour absorption in Indonesia; and the type of work elderly people do affects youth labour absorption in Indonesia. The data used in this study issecondary data from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), namely Sakernas of 2008-2018 with panel data type. Data was analysed using panel data regression analysis. The results show that several variables have a significant effect on employment opportunities for youth labour, namely the Provincial Minimum Wage (UMP), the Basic Education Level of Young Workers, the Secondary Education Level of Young Workers, and the Higher Education Level of Young Workers. These mean that there is no trade off between elderly and young workers. It could be because of the job positions in these two age groups are likely to be different, so that there is no positions’ substitution for elderly and young workers, and the positions entered by these elderly workers are positions that require a fairly high work experience.