Author name: debbie.w.collier

Youth unemployment: Can the problem become the solution?

Prof D du Toit

Not for the first time, a plan to solve South Africa’s huge problem of mass youth unemployment has
been published. In an article headed “Here’s how to fix South Africa’s youth unemployment and
black economic empowerment in one go” (Daily Maverick, 20 June 2021) Tim Cohen proposes a plan
whereby dividend tax can be used to create a fund of R500 billion over ten years that would “go to a
dedicated development finance institution which will invest in black business, or any business if it
wants”.
How exactly this would fix youth unemployment is not made clear. In fact, “youth unemployment” is
mentioned only in the title and in the first line (which repeats the title). And the article ends with
two rhetorical questions: “So, would it work? Absolutely. Will it be implemented. Absolutely not.”
The purpose here is not to critique the article. Rather it is to note the aptness of its second
paragraph:
“We all know the famous Albert Einstein quote, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results”. As it happens, he never said it – but why quibble about the
origins, since the quote speaks for itself.”
Indeed. The “same thing” in this case refers to plans for solving youth unemployment to be
implemented by government, or the private sector, or public-private partnerships. This brief
commentary does not pretend to critique these plans (which might be a good topic for a PhD thesis).
It is also not suggested that these plans were all the same. But there is one common element in
policy proposals, with very few exceptions: almost by definition, they call on the state (with or
without involvement by other parties) to undertake the necessary action.
In other words, they are what Bob Hepple termed “top-down command and control mechanisms”
which, in his view, “are designed by the holders of power (government, employers etc)” and, in
many cases, “end up being ‘paper tigers, fierce in appearance, but missing in tooth and claw’.”
Policies for solving youth unemployment in South Africa have certainly not shown teeth. True, the
rate dropped during the pre-Zuma boom years from an all-time peak of 59.95% in 2003 to 44.83% in
2008, then rose steadily to 53.62% in 2017 (when Zuma was ousted). However, by 2019 – the last
year before the pandemic – it had risen further to 55.97%. Unchecked corruption, in other words,
was not the only explanation.
It will not be attempted here to pinpoint the explanation (which, as most would agree, is bound up
with the operation of market forces). The aims are rather to suggest a different way of approaching
the question: not as a problem to be solved by means of policy design by government and experts
(though they have a crucial part to play) or top-down mechanisms (though enforcement of policies is
indispensable), but as a process driven by those who are seen as the personification of the problem:
the unemployed youth themselves.
The transformative power of youth in united action is widely if not universally recognised as a fact.
Political leaders of the left as well as the right have understood it. Lenin is quoted as saying: “Give
me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.” But the point, of course, is not
how political leaders can “use” the youth; it is how the youth can drive political leaders to do what
they might otherwise not have thought of, let alone achieved.
In South Africa we need look no further than the Soweto youth uprising of 1976 and everything that
followed. This tradition has rightly been honoured but not replicated. It is sadly absent in finding a
way out of the social dead end in which millions of young people in South Africa (and elsewhere)
find themselves. But it is always under the surface. Greta Thunberg’s crusade is a reminder. So is the
statement in the 2019 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs World Youth Report:
“Young people have the potential to save the world. All we have to do is let them do just that.”
To say that is not to romanticise the youth. It is to recognise that they represent the human race at
the height of its energy and strength, not yet weighed down with responsibilities, more likely to
think freely and boldly, less inhibited in taking on challenges – thus, in a positive sense, filled with
idealism, imagination and boldness to dedicate themselves to realising their ideals.
So, the starting point may be the “research question” of the century: how that idealism, imagination
and boldness can be mobilised, not by others for other purposes (however well-intended) but as a
driving force for achieving its own ideals (not the policy aims of others).
Obviously, it would be a project involving dialogue among youth and other stakeholders who will
form part of any solution – but it would have to be a creative dialogue, based on mutual
understanding, not hamstrung by preconceived ideas. Solutions (as the above statistics show) would
be different from anything that has so far been seen as the answer. Understanding the limitations of
previous policies would be part of the process.
At the same time, the vastness of the problem is matched by the potential for change embodied in
today’s economic environment. Digital technology offers levers for transformation beyond anything
that previous generations could have imagined. The project would require experts in this field as in
others – including economics and government – to share their knowledge with the mobilised youth.
The vastness of youth unemployment is equally matched by the vastness of social need – for
example, in areas such as housing, education and health care. Could the energies of the youth be
turned to addressing these problems, devising and implementing sustainable processes for building
houses, hospitals and clinics on a massive scale, together with the infrastructure necessary to
support them, as well as developing the wide range of skills (training unemployed youth as artisans,
electricians, architects, teachers, nurses, doctors, technicians, economists, planners) required to
drive a project of this scale?
The movement of 1976 was able to break through barriers which had seemed unsurmountable, in
the face of a vicious apartheid regime then at the height of its powers. Could a movement with
similar resolve, armed with new ideas, have a similar impact today – not in abolishing
unemployment at a stroke but in finding new ways of turning those latent energies to creative use?

Bob Hepple “Transformative equality: The role of democratic participation” (paper presented at
Labour Law Research Network conference, Barcelona June 2013) abstract.

About the author: Darcy du Toit is an Emeritus Professor and former Dean of Law at the University
of the Western Cape.

Youth unemployment: Can the problem become the solution? Read More »

Subcontracting and social liability – Report & policy recommendations

Authors: Cremers J. and Houwerzijl M.
Date of Publication: 2021
This report fits in an ETUC-project on ‘Securing Workers Rights in subcontracting chains’ as a second
stage of research and analysis. The objective of the project is to build a case for a consistent EU
approach towards subcontracting and to help create better tools and conditions (a more adequate
legal framework) for workers’ representatives to know about their rights and to be informed and
consulted about the practices of their company along its subcontracting chain. [View resource]

Subcontracting and social liability – Report & policy recommendations Read More »

Adapting to the “new normal” for unions – New Digital Lab report

Date of Publication: 2021
Working with union leaders from across the New Digital Lab movement, they have mapped out 27
common challenges faced by unions after a year of adapting to Covid-19. Some of these challenges
have been caused by the response to the pandemic. Some are wider issues that the pandemic has
exacerbated. But all of them are likely to stay with us for the long term. [View resource]

Adapting to the “new normal” for unions – New Digital Lab report Read More »

Taken for a ride: Litigating the digital platform model

Date of Publication: 2021

The ILAW Network is pleased to present the first in its series of special publications. This report,
Taken for a Ride: Litigating the Digital Platform Model, attempts to respond to requests from ILAW
Network members and others for comparative analysis on the litigation taking place around the
world against digital platforms such as Uber, Foodora, Deliveroo and many others. This report is
divided into two parts. Part I is an essay prepared by Jason Moyer-Lee1 and Nicola Contouris2 which
surveys the major cases which have been brought by workers against digital platforms concerning
the existence of an employment relation-ship – whether to contest unjust dismissal, to claim a
certain wage or benefit or to be able to join a union and benefit from a collective agreement. Part II
of this report is a digest of key judicial decisions concerning digital platforms, including case
summaries from every region and related news and analysis. [View resource]

Taken for a ride: Litigating the digital platform model Read More »

UBER drivers in South Africa : Employees or independent contractors?

Author: Kirsten Eiser, Siya Ngcamu, Shane Johnson and Keah Challenor.
Date of Publication: 2 March 2021

Uber drivers are currently classified as independent contractors in South Africa, but there are plans
to launch a class action to compel Uber SA to confer several key rights on its drivers, which, if
successful, will affect the rights of platform workers. The outcome of the potential class action will
significantly influence not only the rights of Uber drivers, but also the rights of other individuals
undertaking platform work. This is an area which the authors hope to continue to monitor and to
provide updates as soon as new developments arise. [View resource]

UBER drivers in South Africa : Employees or independent contractors? Read More »

Work 2035 – How people and technology will pioneer new ways of working

Date of Publication: 25 May 2021

Nowhere is our future more in flux than the future of work. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced
many organisations to revolutionise their ways of working almost overnight and brought the future
of work to the present. Remote work has become the “new normal,” and companies are making it
part of their long-term strategies to ensure business continuity. Work will never be the same again.
Yet it remains central to what it means to be human. Work gives us meaning and for centuries
labour, driven by both humans and technology, has enabled remarkable advances in human life
expectancy, prosperity and achievement. How will this relationship between the workforce, work
models and work environment evolve? And how can we as business leaders, policymakers and
individuals see further into the forces that will shape our future and bring about the future we want?
We asked some of the world’s most respected academics, business leaders and employees across
the US and Europe to join us in imagining what the future of work might look like in 2035, the
opportunities and threats it might hold, and how people and technology may work together to
generate value. This exercise raised the fundamental questions that must be faced by every business
and government organisation in their long-term strategic planning. How will workers be organised to
deliver value? How will people partner with technology and will we see the emergence of human-
machine teaming? What new opportunities will workers be afforded and what novel pitfalls will they
face? How might governments and supranational entities respond with regulation to support
workers and ensure competition in the new world of work? [View resource]

Work 2035 – How people and technology will pioneer new ways of working Read More »

Scroll to Top