Graduate unemployment on the rise, new research shows
December 18, 2006
By Ethel Hazelhurst
Johannesburg - A shortage of mid-career staff in critical industries, such as civil engineering, is contributing to growing levels of graduate unemployment in South Africa.
A paper published recently by the University of Cape Town's development policy research unit (DPRU) identifies the absence of people with skills and experience to train new entrants to the workforce as a constraint on employment creation.
"As long as vacancies persist at management level, entry-level [graduate] recruitment will be restricted," says the paper, entitled Graduate Unemployment in the Face of Skills Shortages: A Labour Market Paradox.
"Clearly, then, the sourcing of skills from abroad should not be seen as an initiative that may damage the employment prospects of entry-level graduates," says the DRPU. "In fact, it may actually boost graduate recruitment, especially since one of the provisions attached to the initiative is that the foreign recruit should be employed in a position where he or she can act as a mentor or coach for young entry-level workers in the firm …
"Furthermore, since only people with five years' working experience or more will be considered, they are unlikely to be considered for the same positions as graduates."
With the rapidly growing economy desperately in need of skilled labour, unemployment among graduates would be expected to fall. However, "unemployment has risen among young and better-educated people", the paper says.
The DPRU research has shown that increased enrolment at tertiary institutions has put more graduates into the labour market but not increased the rate at which they are employed. The graduate unemployment rate, although low in comparison with the overall unemployment rate, has been growing the fastest of all the education cohorts since 1995.
The graduate unemployment problem "is a concern in that it goes against expectations and points to serious problems in the South African education system", the paper says.
This trend has emerged against a backdrop of accelerated government spending on education: the education budget allocation has increased at an average rate of 10.5 percent a year since 2002. However, the increase is not reflected in growth in graduate employment.
Not only do firms lack middle-level staff to train new entrants on an informal level, but formal workplace training at manufacturing firms has been declining. This is "partly due to the unfavourable economic conditions that existed during the 1980s and 1990s", says the DPRU.
Graduates are also to blame. Research shows that students prefer university qualifications to more practical further education and training college qualifications; they would "much rather obtain (for example) a human science degree than a technical diploma, despite the lower employment prospects attached to the former", says the DPRU.
The paper urges action "to ensure that learners are adequately prepared for entry into the labour force". It calls for "greater efforts to encourage learners to choose directions of study with superior employment prospects".
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