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Unemployment has thrust itself as a serious socio-economic concern that has left many public policy makers scratching their heads for lack of a better approach to this societal menace. Unemployment exhibits itself when a person qualified and available seeks work but cannot find it. The extent of unemployment is measured as a fraction of those in the labour force. The world over, unemployment has posed serious challenges for governments. With rising labor costs and general economic slowdown, many countries have grappled with this socio-economic problem albeit unsuccessfully. Unemployment has created a string of other setbacks that include poverty, mushrooming of slum settlements, and high morbidity rates the world over. Current figures put the world unemployment rate at 30% for non industrialized nations and 4-12% in developed countries. On an individual country basis, Nauru leads the pack of the unemployed with 90% of her population without jobs (Meares, 1996).
Socially the youth have been most affected and with an increasing number of them still jobless, there is a growing concern by governments as to the future of this supposedly promising population. For majority of youths, it is gloom as many do not find jobs as they grow older or finish their education. In Africa, youth unemployment stands at 21% which overlaps the worlds average of 14.4%. The stratified population alludes to a rate of 18.4% for young women and 23.1% for young men. The case for women is strengthened by cultural norms toward employment and a dearth of icons to motivate the young women to strive for higher than the profession of house-help. With access to education skewed in most parts of the continent in favor of boys, efforts to join the labor market become an arduous task for the young womenfolk.
Cases of youth unemployment in Africa is exacerbated by dismal growth in economies in many parts of the continent coupled with other social problems live poverty and disease. With a large population to take care of the market for labour is overstretched from Johannesburg to Tangiers and cannot accommodate the influx of young job seekers leading to shortage or in some cases the total lack of employment for the educated and able population. Education too has a role to play in worsening the situation. The quality of education in many African states is wanting with students getting equipped with skills that are out of touch with the requirements of the job market. The curricula used do not churn graduates with the necessary skills to match the jobs they intend to take up. HIV also worsens the situation as it lowers productivity and life expectancy of many of the youth in Africa (Du Toit, 2003).
The effects of unemployment are both social as well as economic. The jobless youth are forced to fend for themselves through alternative means including the informal sector and in severe cases prostitution and criminal activity. With rising migration to the urban areas, youth in the urban areas find considerable competition worsening their situation and prospects. The effects on the economy are far reaching as far as output is concerned. Unemployment leads to wastage of labor and this leads to the economy operating at less than capacity. The economy thus experiences a fall in production of goods and services. Tax revenues that could accrue from incomes of the working population are lost. This leads to a shrunken tax base and lowers the sources of revenue for governments putting the lives of many public projects at risk due to lack of finances. With high unemployment come high crime rates. This is due to the fact that survival tactics have to be improvised by the unemployed youth in order to stay alive. In South Africa high crime rates have discouraged investment in the country. Besides, research shows that an increase in the ratio of young 15-29 year olds to 30-54 year olds by one percent predisposes the society to 7% risk of increased conflicts and social unrests. The 15-29 year olds are considered impatient, intolerant and temperamental. With access to education crime and other forms of social deviance can be reduced considerably. Any government could benefit from this pool of unemployed population (Du Toit, 2003).
With reforms geared to correcting the state of youth population in Africa, many governments can come up with policies to address the situation and reap maximum benefits from the untapped talents of the unemployed youth. Drafting of public policies that focus on the youth unemployment crisis could be a strategy in reversing the negative trends. Placing special attention to youth policies with regard to national employment, youth centered public expenditure and job creation in the rural and urban population can pave the way to an improved unemployment status in the society. Public-private sector partnerships could be of great help in trying to harmonize the syllabi and smoothen the transition from education into the job industry. Young people should also be included in decision making to prevent them from feeling alienated in drafting policies aimed at uplifting their standards of living. The hopes of jobless youth are shattered by the size of the labor market compared to the number of youths unemployed. Due to lack of skills and the required experience, the youth fail to secure employment despite education. Without formal employment the youth are left to eke a living from the informal sector with limited or no legal protection and meager pay. These low paying jobs carry long hours of work and require no special skills to enter. They include hawking, making handicrafts, car wash. With the unbalance in the employment opportunities, young men constantly face hurdles in trying to secure jobs (Annan, 2002).
Many young people have felt discouraged by the lack of employment opportunities and quit searching or left the mainstream workforce altogether. A study done in South Africa came up with grim statistics, 39% of the jobless youth have thought about quitting the entire job search. With close to 47.1% giving up due to lack of opportunities in their precincts, 23.5% complained of lack of transportation to look for jobs. With rising figures of unemployment in the urban areas compared to the rural areas, the paradox of urbanization becomes evident. In comparison the rural Africa is agriculture intensive and experiences lower levels of unemployment as the population practices farming of sorts. Lower levels of productivity however lead to lower pay hence higher underemployment. Rural to urban migration is continuing to pose a serious threat to resource utilization as many young people feel the jobs are only available in the urban centers. This creates a pressure on already worse case of urban unemployment (UN, 2003). It is a fact though, that rural to urban migration is as a result of other hosts of reasons not related to employment.
Poor economic growth and limited resources in education, health and finance worsens the state of unemployment in Africa. With less than average economic performance availability of resources is hampered. These socioeconomic resources face competition from the ever growing population leading to a cycle of more and more unemployment. Inadequate aggregate demand to sustain the economy, poor skills among the young population and the size of the labour force that comprises the youth are cited are the major causes of unemployment (Blanchflower & Freeman, 1999).
In trying to understand the demographic factors affecting the rate of unemployment in Africa, serious attention should be given to the sub Saharan region. There is a projected increase in the youth labor force more than any part of the world. Fertility rates are falling at much lower rate than the rest of Africa. This implies that the young population is experiencing an increase not sustainable by the current employment levels.
These trends have a serious consequence to the society and in particular, the young population. In Africa the absence of employment opportunities and the threat of a gloomy future has led to the increase in deviance and marginalization of the youth from the labor market. With an increase in deviant behavior, crime rates follow suit. In Africa, close to 70 deaths per 100000 people die from violence (WHO, 2004). Gangs comprising of young people terrorize people to meet their economic and social needs. Throw in firearms and the result is havoc. The proliferation of small arms and the incessant wars in the great lakes region of Africa is a testimony to this. In these countries child soldiers execute and plunder with neither conscience nor remorse. In Nairobi, a survey puts the most common offences as theft, assault and drug possession (UN-HABITAT, 2004).
Unemployment has led to the expansion of prostitution business in Africa. With lack of a regular income, many young ladies turn to commercial sex business to support themselves. The influx of tourists from all over the world has made this industry flourish and even evolve into more sophisticated sex tourism (Meares, 1996). Prostitution has made things worse accelerating the spread of venereal diseases and HIV.
All these woes attributable to unemployment need urgent measures if the young population of Africa is to be saved from further morass.
References
- Annan, Koffi. (2002). Child Abuse, Labor and Slavery. Speech at the International Summit on Human Trafficking, Abuja.
- Blanchflower, D., and R.B. Freeman. (1999). Youth Employment and Joblessness in Advanced Countries. NBER Comparative Labor Markets Series. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press. Chicago.
- Du Toit, R. (2003). Unemployed Youth in South Africa: The Distressed Generation? Paper presented at the Minnesota International Counseling Institute, Minneapolis.
- Meares, R.( 1996). Child-Sex Tourism May Turn to Africa. Reuters, 1996. Johannesburg.
- UN (United Nations). (1996). Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. Note by the Secretary-General. Document A/51/150. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York.
- UN-HABITAT (United Nations Human Settlements Programme). (2004a). The State of the Worlds Cities 2004/2005: Globalization and Urban Culture. Nairobi.
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