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.

Revisiting the Shift in Youth Labour Market vis-à-vis the Economic Development in India

The significance of youth in the economic development of a nation is well comprehended, while the role of economic transformation in ensuring a successful School-to-Work transition for the younger generation has remained a solemn challenge, especially for the developing countries. Therefore, the objective of this study is to understand School-to-Work transition among the younger generation, considering key indicators of the Indian labour market during the post-reforms period. The findings implicate specific enigmatic changes in the labour market—despite decent economic growth, the declining labour force participation, declining employment and increasing unemployment across gender and sector persist as a significant challenge to a thriving School-to-Work transition for the younger population of the country. Youth—being the prospective human capital—remains highly vulnerable in the Indian labour market, and prospects for their transition in the labour market are skimpy and shrinking, while the challenges remain multidimensional.