A fundamental change in mindset is needed in South Africa to avoid the sense of hopelessness and powerlessness that could be created by the perception of a bleak future among the country’s unemployed youth, according to Vanessa Carstens, a future world of work expert.
This shift in mindset would have to focus on taking responsibility – both on individual level as well as business level – to create a better and brighter future for the youth.
The youth employment crisis in the country, therefore, lies at the epicentre of a looming disaster, as the ripple effects spreading outwards from the crisis will have devastating implications for our society.
“For the youth, we need to work at changing beliefs and assumptions that a job is something that you need to be given or that companies must provide, or that involves travelling to an office or factory building,” she says.
“Instead, by teaching youth from a school-age to be more future conscious and literate, more of our youth may begin to understand that a job may also involve working as an app developer at home or as a digital worker for an overseas company.”
In her view, this will tap into a critical factor, namely getting the youth to create new jobs for themselves and also potentially for others by becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own small businesses.
As for individual South Africans and the business sector, she says the shift in mindset may mean creating more opportunities for youth to become employed, even temporarily, in order to gain experience, or focussing on providing them with the tools necessary to become productive remote workers.
“For example, I often see jobs advertised requiring at least three years of experience that could just as easily be offered to inexperienced workers,” says Carstens.
She points out that Covid-19 exposed the deep inequalities and digital divide prevalent within SA’s society, placing learners and students without internet access at home at a significant disadvantage.
“Ultimately, steering away from a dystopian future requires each of us as individuals to act, working together to shape a future for South Africa that is hopeful and inclusive for all,” she says.
“A brighter future requires every South African to mobilise, given that the youth unemployment trend began under the apartheid era and has only worsened despite governments’ efforts. It’s key to first recognise that we cannot leave the crisis up to government alone to address. An issue of its sheer size and complexity is simply not ‘solveable’ – there are no quick fixes.”
Her closer examination of Statistics South Africa’s data as well as a futures trend analysis reveals how the youth unemployment time bomb has been developing over the past few years and even decades. Futures methodologies help anticipate possible, plausible, and probable futures.
“Futures methodologies reveal both the consequences of our inaction in addressing the youth unemployment crisis, as well as the brighter future that is possible for all South Africans by working together and taking collective responsibility.”
In the first quarter of the 2020, the youth unemployment rate rose to 59%. The latest unemployment figures released on Tuesday, show 2.2 million jobs were lost in the country in the second quarter.
Carstens used a so-called “futures wheel” methodology, created by Jerome Glenn in 1972, to identify multiple levels of consequences that could result from the youth unemployment crisis. Furthermore, this methodology encourages thinking more closely on the brighter, more optimistic future that could be achieved in order to create a different perspective on the current situation and the specific individual decisions taken today.
Her analysis brought various insights.
Youth unemployment delays the transition into adulthood, keeping youth dependent on parents, families and social grants, and isolated from working communities.
Youth unemployment then increases the prevalence of mental health problems such as low self-esteem, depression and anxiety, while simultaneously planting the seeds for social dissatisfaction and unrest, protests and possible armed conflict.
Youth unemployment encourages urban migration resulting into more informal settlements, placing strain on waste facilities and pollution, fanning health risks and increasing the likelihood of further pandemics.
Youth unemployment then adds to the pressure on social grants, state healthcare and policing, even as government tax revenue dwindles from a lack of economic activity and growth.
Youth unemployment erodes human capital, raises systemic risk and increases the likelihood of government reaching out to organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout – even if this means further tax hikes and austerity measures.
“In other words, youth unemployment ultimately means a darker future for all South Africans. But the good news is that futures thinking methodologies also teach us that by creating images of brighter futures and taking individual responsibility, we are able to create futures that work for everyone,” concludes Carstens.
By Carin Smith, Fin24
Carin Smith, from Fin24, looks into youth unemployment in South Africa and interviewed our founder and Executive Director, Vanessa Carstens. The link to her full article can be found here.