Summary

The latest unemployment statistics show a continued rise in the levels of youth unemployment with the expanded unemployment rate creeping up to 52% for youth aged 15 to 34 years (Statistics South Africa, 2019). The most significant contributor to this situation is the limited growth in the number of jobs that can match the number of new work seekers entering the labour market each year. However, barriers to the labour market and struggles in navigating the pathways to work also contribute to the challenge.

Addressing the challenge of youth unemployment in South Africa

The myriad of factors that contribute to this situation are well-documented elsewhere (see for instance De Lannoy, Graham, Patel & Leibbrandt, 2018). Suffice to say that the situation of rising unemployment does not stem from a lack of effort on the part of the state, civil society, and the private sector. The state in particular has invested significantly in programmes and interventions to drive employment generally and youth employment specifically.

Examples include the Expanded Public Works and Community Works Programmes, investments in Special Economic Zones, and the Employment Tax Incentive, all of which are major Active Labour Market Programmes (ALMPs) intended to drive growth in employment and promote labour-absorption. And while the private sector has not seen significant expansion in jobs overall, many have been participating in the Youth Employment Service programme and investing in skills training programmes to support youth in their efforts to transition to work.

Civil society organisations are the largest contributors to the delivery of training programmes offered outside of the formal post-secondary education and training system (Graham et al., 2018). There are thus significant efforts, across sectors of society, being made into supporting youth to transition to work.

Much is being learned from such interventions, but there remain gaps in the evidence base both in South Africa and internationally. A recent systematic review of ALMPs internationally notes the paucity of good quality evidence, particularly in the Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) region, that can inform the development of impactful ALMPs (Kluve et al., 2019). This study was conducted to address such a gap.

It is particularly relevant in the South African context where youth unemployment figures continue to creep upwards and where just over a third of young people are neither in education, employment or training. It is also timely in the international context given the increased interest in evidence about the effects of ALMPs in various contexts.