Graduate Unemployment in the Face of Skills Shortages: A Labour Market Paradox

Karl Pauw, Morne Oosthuizen and Carlene van der Westhuizen ()
Additional contact information
Carlene van der Westhuizen: Development Policy Research Unit,University of Cape Town

Working Papers from University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit

Abstract: There is consensus among analysts that South Africa’s unemployment is structural in the sense that the unemployed generally possess lower skills than what is required in the marketplace. In the context of increasing demand for skilled workers due to technical progress and the need to become more competitive globally, graduate unemployment would be expected to fall. This paper investigates the nature of graduate unemployment in South Africa since 1995, finding that labour force and employment growth has been concentrated in higher educational categories. However, against expectations unemployment has risen amongst young and better educated people. The paper suggests that the education sector urgently requires continued emphasis and monitoring to ensure that learners are adequately prepared for entry into the labour force; that greater efforts be made to encourage learners to choose directions of study with superior employment prospects; and that investment in young people’s soft skills is required.

Keywords: South Africa: graduate unemployment; skills shortages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2006-11
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in Working Paper Series by the Development Policy Research Unit, November 2006, pages 1-36

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7346 First version, 2006 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctw:wpaper:06114

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Waseema Petersen ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).