Investigating the discouraged workseekers in the South African labour market
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Date
2023
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
South Africa is notorious for its socio-economic problems, namely extreme poverty, inequality, and unemployment. These problems have been persistent during the apartheid era and even since the advent of democracy. High unemployment remains a pivotal factor facing South Africa. Despite the South African government’s attempt to reduce poverty through implementing and introducing new policies and legislation unemployment remains high. There have been a vast number of studies examining the characteristics of the employed and unemployed, but very few studies examined the characteristics of discouraged workseekers in great detail. There is lack of empirical literature that explicitly focused on the discouraged workseekers, yet it is important to know who they are and whether there is something that can be done to assist them to actively seek work. The study therefore will aim to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the discouraged workseekers for the period 1995 to 2019 within South Africa. Using the Statistics South Africa’s numerous labour market surveys in 1995-2019, as well as the first five available waves of the National Income Dynamics Study data conducted in 2008- 2016, the empirical findings showed that discouraged workseekers are most likely to be of the African race, females, between the ages of 25 and 34 years old, with incomplete secondary education, residing within rural areas and primarily in KwaZulu-Natal. The study concluded by suggesting various policy recommendations to provide further support to the discouraged workseekers, such as the promotion of volunteer work, promotion of quality and quantity of education, promote transport subsidies for job seeking and lastly to review the National Minimum Wage.
Description
Magister Commercii - MCom
Keywords
Discouraged workseekers, Labour market, Labour supply, South Africa, Economics