Unemployment in South Africa: Causes and Solutions

The largest cause of unemployment can be attributed to recession. The term recession refers to the backward movement of the economy for a long period. People spend only when they have to. (Nagle 2009). With people spending less there would be less money in circulation therefore, enterprises would suffer financially and people would suffer too. This is so because recession reduces the fiscal bases of enterprises, forcing these enterprises to reduce their workforce through layoffs. These enterprises lay off their workers in order to cut the costs they incur in terms of wage and salary payments.

However, if government uses taxes to subsidize university students, taxes such as incomes tax will have to increase and this will increase the overall social cost. Furthermore, this will decrease citizen’s disposal income, which will lower their purchasing power and winder economic growth as a whole.

Historically, the South African economy has been largely unstable mostly due to political issues. Although, considering its counterparts, South Africa shows the most promise for economic development and growth (Jordaan, 2010 pg.5). In 1990 South Africa entered the global market after overcoming major political issues such as apartheid. Many economists agree that the changes the South African government has made to be able to compete globally, are for the better (Wessel, 2007). In the article “CAPITAL: Globalization Brings South

The benefits of this will be less student debt, higher student populations, and more jobs will be available.

When comparing the struggling American economy of the 1930’s to that present-day South Africa, there are clear similarities. Firstly, the unemployment rates in both cases are strikingly high when compared to the countries’ international contemporaries. By 1930, The United States had an unemployment rate of approximately 25% (Minsky & Kaufman, 2008), almost equivalent to South Africa’s current unemployment rate of approximately

free tuition more students can dedicate the money they use from their jobs to focus on paying

Another policy that may affect this solution is the Social Welfare policy in regard to

More people would be able to go to college and get a better education. Which, in return, hirers would a large choice in their workforce, creating workers who are better in their field and cure more for their job and company they work for. With more education my future would change; I wouldn’t have to worry as much about my loved ones dying because there will be more well trained doctors working on a cure for many deadly diseases; where children and loved ones dying for diseases is far less common and people don’t have to suffer through pointless deaths. Cutting the cost of college will help many people’s lives not just mine and will shape our future for the better with far more pros than cons for this

While it's obvious that the costs of education will increase on the part of the state, the outcome will counterbalance that cost in a rather simple way. Educated people, usually, leave school and enter higher paying jobs (Los Angeles Times). This, alone, will greatly affect the economy in a positive way. It will increase the number of people stimulating the economy by buying higher ticket items (like houses, cars, etc.) and help keep the population out of debt. Studies also suggest that attending a community college increases the chances of a student attending another college to complete higher level degrees (USA Today College). More than likely, that student will be paying to attend that college, which is a payment straight to the government. Having more educated workers will also decrease the number of people on government assistance programs (The American Prospect). Because people are working better jobs with higher incomes, the chances of them having to sign up for programs like Welfare and MediCal are greatly reduced. There are also studies that suggest that educated people tend to be healthier, which will give the state a healthier population (Global Partnership for Education) as well as lower the costs put into government funded

Although more money will be invested it will be better in the long run because welfare recipients will be able to obtain higher paying jobs which essentially will dissipate the need of assistance from the government. Another reason one might oppose training and education programs for welfare recipients may be because they feel they should’ve obtained these necessary skills on their own, but many recipients were born into lower income families and may not have been given proper information on college or the importance of

There are still gaps in the economy of South Africa post apartheid. This is due to the migrant labour decrease which resulted to increased unemployment. Certain parts of the country being independent states which were former homelands of migrant labourers have lost large amounts of their income resulting to the great obscurity. The social and political manoeuvres post apartheid and the re-incorporation of Venda into the now known, Limpopo created the now visible economic inequality or rather uneven distribution of wealth (McNeil). The people of Venda like of Owerri associate quick wealth with

Not only will free education save money in supporting an uneducated population, it could boost our economy. In other countries with free advanced education, such as the UK and Canada, graduates are considered an investment. They generally earn more, therefore giving more back in taxes and contributing more to the economy. If the US views education as a right, it will generate more money as more people will achieve financial success and more people will be fiscally independent.

1: Taxes could go towards infrastructure, and eventually make it easier for families to make ends meet. If schools are well-funded, it could cost less to attend.

Free college is a misleading term because it is not actually free. It is paid by the taxpayers and would significantly increase their tax burden. Increasing taxes would lower the ability of consumers to buy products because their disposable income would be smaller. That would then cause the GDP to decrease." Increasing the supply of degree holders would make more people qualified for high-skill jobs, reducing wages and increasing unemployment in those occupations. When there are many people qualified to do a certain occupation and not enough labor demand, the result is more unemployment and lower wages for those who are able to work. This decreases the overall standard

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities