This paper is targeted to aid providers, government, academics, researchers and the general population. The aim of this paper is to provide an analyses of the unemployment problem in South Africa and provide some solutions (some financial) to mitigate the unemployment problem. In addition this paper will look at the obstacles that hinder the execution of solutions and how these obstacles can be overcome.

1. Unemployment in South Africa
by Khanyisani Kubheka
This paper is targeted to aid providers, government, academics, researchers and the general
population. The aim of this paper is to provide an analyses of the unemployment problem in South
Africa and provide some solutions (some financial) to mitigate the unemployment problem. In
addition this paper will look at the obstacles that hinder the execution of solutions and how these
obstacles can be overcome.
The Apartheid policy that was adopted by the National Party in South Africa during the period 1948-
1994 was one of the most successful policies in the sense that it achieved its main objective of dividing
South Africa into different race groups and causing one race to prosper at the expense of others. After
two decades of democracy in South Africa; unemployment which feeds into income inequality and
poverty is one of the biggest challenge South Africa is facing. The main cause of unemployment is
due to the fact that the vast majority of the labour force is unskilled and other national and global
economic forces.
The basic definition of unemployment is the portion of the labour force that is not working. The
Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLS) a survey conducted by Statistics South Africa defines
unemployment as “a person must not have worked in the seven days prior to the interview [survey],
be available to work within two weeks of the interview, must want to work and must have made
specific efforts to find a job or taken an active step to start a business within the previous four weeks
of the interview” (Parkin et al., 2005: 495). The definition excludes discouraged workers, “people
who are available and willing to work but have not made specific efforts to find a job within the
previous four weeks” (Parkin et al., 2005:495). According to Parkin et al. (2005:501) there are three
different types of unemployment and they are frictional, structural and cyclical. Frictional
unemployment is the type of unemployment that “arises from normal turnover – from people entering
and leaving the labour force and from the ongoing creation and destruction of jobs” (Parkin et al.,
2005: 501). Structural unemployment “arises when changes in technology or international
competition change the skills needed to perform jobs or change the locations of jobs” (Parkin et al.,
2005: 502). Cyclical unemployment is “the fluctuating unemployment over the business cycle”
(Parkin et al., 2005: 502).

2. David Kirk a partner at KPMG stated that South Africa suffers mainly from structural unemployment
(Kirk, 2010:1). According to Kirk (2010:1) the causes of unemployment in South Africa are minimum
wages, overly protective labour laws, international trade and the biggest contributor being poor
education and the mismatch of skills. It would be in the best interest for government and the private
sector to work together to solve the problem of unemployment. To solve the problem of
unemployment the government and the private sector would have to work hand in hand to make
reforms in the education system, invest in education and infrastructure and relax labour laws.
The Bantu Education Act No 47 of 1953 was a law that was passed during the Apartheid regime and
“was intended to separate black South Africans from the main comparatively very well resourced
education system for whites” (South African History Online, 2015:1). According to Baard and
Schreiner (1986 cited in Overcoming Apartheid Building Democracy, 2015:1) the Bantu Education
Act made sure that black South Africans only learnt things that made them good for what the
government of the time wanted; which was to provide cheap labour. Sixty two (62) years later after
the Bantu Education Act was passed and its impact is still felt in South Africa today. For example at
the basic education level, schools especially those based in black populated areas are faced with
challenges such as poor infrastructure (mud schools), overly populated classes, high absenteeism of
teachers, poor quality teachers and the lack of basic resources such as textbooks.

3. At the tertiary level the main problem is that South Africa is producing graduates that don't have the
skills that the private sector is looking for. The government and the private sector have to work hand
in glove to fix the problems that exist in the education system since there are huge benefits to be
reaped for both the government and the private sector.
The benefits to be obtained from making reforms in the education system, investing in education and
infrastructure include but not limited to increase in labour productivity which will cause faster
economic growth, increase in profitability for businesses, new business opportunities, creativity, new
inventions, solutions and more importantly a dramatic fall in the unemployment rate. The reforms
that need to be made in the education system are ensuring that schools have qualified teachers,
ensuring that children obtain adequate maths, literacy and reading skills at the foundation level,
ensure that the syllabus at the high school level equip students to enter and cope at university, adopt
a model similar to ALU (a university in Mauritius) at the tertiary level where students obtain a
qualification and simultaneously obtain skills that the private sector is looking for through internship
work. The government and mostly the private sector should make tertiary education accessible to
everyone by investing in education and funding the youth to obtain qualifications and create and
encourage an environment for the youth to start businesses. In addition the government and private

4. sector should invest in infrastructure to ensure that schools which don't have adequate infrastructure
have it, so that schools become a safe environment which is conducive for learning.
The obstacles that could potentially hinder the execution of the above proposal include corruption at
the government level, dubious colleges and poverty. These obstacles can be mitigated by making
reforms at the government level such as firing corrupt officials, hiring competent people with a
diverse set of skills e.g. financial management; having an accreditation board that will not only have
the powers to accredit colleges but can prosecute unaccredited dubious colleges. In addition the
problems of poverty that leads to malnutrition could be alleviated by having feeding schemes at

5. schools to ensure that student are getting the right nutrients that will enable them to focus at school.
The food could be donated from food manufactures in the private sector. To further reduce the
problem of unemployment in South Africa, labour laws could be relaxed and made more flexible. To
achieve this, the government, trade unions and the private sector should work together to establish
laws that can be amended depending on the economic conditions that will be beneficial to all parties
with the core focus of reducing unemployment e.g. removing the minimum wage that contributes to
unemployment since South Africa's labour is not productive and the minimum wage is forever
increasing and benefiting the employed. The obstacles to this solution are trade unions that want high
wages instead of having the majority of the population employed. The simplifying solution to this
obstacle is that these specific trade unions could be persuaded to look at the bigger picture of reducing
overall unemployment by analysing the benefits of an increase in employment.
In conclusion it can be said that the problem of unemployment in South Africa can be solved by
changing the education system, investing in education and infrastructure and relaxing labour laws.
Government and private sector have to work together to finance the execution of solutions, make the
necessary amendments that contribute to solving the unemployment problem and remove any
obstacles that will hinder the execution of solutions.
Reference List:
Kirk, D., 2010. Causes of unemployment in South Africa. [Online]. Available:
http://twentythirdfloor.co.za/2010/12/01/causes-of-unemployment-in-south-africa/ [Accessed 1
December 2010].
Overcoming Apartheid and Building Democracy, 2015. Bantu Education Act. [Online]. Available:
http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/sidebar.php?id=65-258-2 [Accessed 1 December 2015].
PARKIN, M., POWELL, M. and MATTHEWS, K. (2005). Economics (6e). Harlow, England:
Addison-Wesley.
South African History Online, 2015. Bantu Education. [Online]. Available:
http://www.sahistory.org.za/bantu-education-act-no-47-1953 [Accessed 1 December 2015].