State policy and youth unemployment in South Africa, 1976-1992
Date
1992-10-12
Authors
Chisholm, Linda
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Abstract
In common with many developing countries, youth unemployment in South Africa is reaching
critical proportions. While the dimensions of the problem are not precisely known, studies
of the 1976 youth revolt, as well as analyses of youth resistance in the 1980s, identified
school-leavers with little or no prospect of employment as a central component in the form
and scale of opposition to apartheid and apartheid education (Kane-Berman: 1978; Brookes
and Brickhill; 1980; Swilling: 1986; Hyslop: 1988/89; Bundy: 1987). Faced with this
situation, the South African state introduced various schemes and projects to soak up the
unemployed, amongst whom youth featured prominently. The continuing rapidly escalating
levels of unemployment amongst school-leavers are testimony to the failure of these schemes.
In a context where the need to intervene and reshape the economic, social and political
configuration of youth is perceived as an urgent priority by social and political actors across
the board, these need to be examined, and alternatives posed.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 12 October, 1992
Keywords
Youth. Employment.South Africa, Unemployment. South Africa, Youth. Employment. Government policy. South Africa