For your ease and mental clarity, I am about to provide three possible reasons for the continuous rise in unemployment in South Africa. Of course, there could be many other reasons that might pop up in your head pertaining to the reasons why there is so much unemployment in the country but, the ones I am about to mention are the most serious ones.
But before I get started, let me warn you that the factors/reasons that I am about to mention down below are interconnected and might sound contradicting to you. However, you must keep in mind that these reasons depend upon the situation of the population residing in the country.
So, the points that are not valid for one person would be valid for the next. Nevertheless, keep on reading down below to find further details.
1. Lack of Education and Training
One of the foremost reasons why the unemployment rate is increasing in South Africa with every passing day is the lack of education and training. There are not many educated people in South Africa due to many other factors such as poverty, lack of good educational institutes in rural areas, and child labor.
South African children are forced to earn money at a very young age which is why they never get to complete their education. In addition to that, some students who can actually afford to get the required education, prefer not to do it in search of shortcuts. In simple words, there is a large percentage of people who prefer to get their desired job roles on the basis of reference and not on their educational qualifications.
So, such South Africans who get good job roles and positions on the basis of references cause a job deficiency in the market and hence even the most educated people of the lot remain unemployed. Furthermore, there is also a lack of proper and adequate training programs in South Africa due to which people never get to receive the training they need to land a good job.
2. Labour and Supply Match
This is yet another very important reason why there is so much unemployment in South Africa. The number of jobs available in the country is way less than the number of educated and qualified people. As you may already know, every job requires a particular set of qualifications and skills from a person, and if the applicant does not have the required qualities then the purpose of the vacancy is not served.
Besides that, there are a few fields that have a saturation of educated and skilled candidates such as doctors and engineers. In fact the supply of professionals in these fields is far greater than the number of vacancies in South Africa, hence the continuous rate of unemployment. The worst part is that there are no major steps being taken to introduce the job vacancies.
3. Inflation and Economic Recession
Another reason for the increasing rate of unemployment in South Africa is inflation and economic recession in the country. The inflation rate is always high which is why no major investment projects are started in South Africa. In simple words, the cost of new investments in South Africa is always high hence it is unfavorable for businesses to make hefty investments in the country.
And, since there are no new or very few investments in the country, hence the availability of new job openings and vacancies is very low. In addition to that, there is an all-time high inflation that increases the expenses of the entities thereby bringing them closer to annual losses and thereby, laying off employees to cut back on expenses and losses hence, adding to the overall unemployment rate.
Why is there so much unemployment in South Africa?
There could be a myriad of reasons why there is continuously increasing unemployment in South Africa including low literacy rate, lack of proper training institutes, all-time high inflation, economic recession, labor demand and supply mismatch, and so on.
How could the unemployment rate be reduced in South Africa?
The unemployment rate in South Africa can be reduced by promoting new small businesses in the country. It would bring about the need for fresh hires and hence new vacancies for unemployed eligible South Africans. Other than that, the government should introduce training programs to equip the masses with the necessary skills to handle technical and specialized work.
Why is inflation a contributing factor to unemployment in South Africa?
Inflation is a contributing factor to unemployment in South Africa because when there is inflation in a country, large businesses and investors hesitate to establish new businesses or expand their existing businesses. The reason being, that the overall costs would be very high and the expected returns would be low. This causes the profit margins to drop hence, the investors consider it an unfavorable environment for large investments.
So, it is safe to say that the three major reasons for the continuous rise in unemployment in South Africa include the low literacy rate, labor and supply mismatch, and inflation and economic recession in South Africa. Of course, there are many other factors that contribute to the unemployment in the country however, the ones I mentioned earlier are the major ones.
Lack of proper education and training is indeed an important and the biggest reason why there is a high rate of unemployment. This is because there are still various job openings that require highly skilled employees with specialization in particular fields and there are no candidates that fulfill the eligibility criteria. The rest of the reason falls upon the other two factors.