Urgent intervention required for our youth

A JOURNO'S VOICE

- THULANI MAGAZI

In a country with sluggish economic growth, more and more people remain outside the labour market. This will only get worse if urgent steps are not taken to curb this ticking time bomb.

This is particularly painful when one looks at the country's youth. South Africa simply does not have enough jobs for everyone. Yet, annually, we produce graduates who cannot get jobs.

Youth unemployment currently stands at more than 40% and it surged to 46,1% in the first quarter of this year. These figures will continue to grow as long as our economy remains stagnant.

What is extremely worrying is the failure by our political principals to act decisively in this regard or make much noise about it. Every politician in this country knows unemployment is our biggest challenge and threatens the very freedom many before us fought so hard to achieve.