News - WHAT DRIVES YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND WHAT INTERVENTIONS HELP? (A Systematic Overview of the Evidence and a Theory of Change)

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WHAT DRIVES YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND WHAT INTERVENTIONS HELP? (A Systematic Overview of the Evidence and a Theory of Change)

This paper examines both the evidence about what drives youth unemployment, the policy and programmatic interventions that have sought to address it, as well as the government agencies that have been tasked with dealing with youth unemployment.

This paper grew out of the identification and assessment of 1 294 research papers, 376 government documents and articles, and 2 759 programme descriptions and evaluations spanning the period 1990 to 2016. Out of these, a set of relevant articles and documents were identified for full review. This included 256 journal articles that were reviewed to identify the drivers of youth unemployment; 376 government documents and articles that were reviewed to provide the policy overview; and 1 173 programme descriptions and 284 journal articles that were reviewed to describe

and comment on the effect of youth unemployment interventions.

Based on this extensive review, we will argue that

the following remain as critical stumbling blocks to

addressing the youth unemployment challenge:

• The plethora of agencies across national and provincial governments that are not well-coordinated, that have struggled to implement programmes efficiently, and that are not accountable in the strong sense. This includes the youth-specific ‘ desks ’ at various levels of governance, but also the national departments of basic and higher education, for instance;

• Poor educational outcomes, particularly in basic numeracy and literacy, which are critical basic skills for employers;

• A poorly coordinated further education system, which allows many young people to drop out and become vulnerable;

• Lack of sustained economic growth that can drive labour absorption, in particular for young entrants;

• Limited understanding of what drives employer hiring preferences and why employers are reluctant to hire youth;

• Inefficient ‘ matching ’ that can effectively connect young work seekers and employers; and

• Persistent individual and household level barriers such as cost of work seeking, and limited social capital.

We proposed four theories of change (TOC), each focused on one aspect of the youth unemployment challenge. We argue that there is a need for:

• One coordinating government body that can oversee the workings of the different

departments with regards to youth training and employment, accompanied by clear lines of accountability to a parliamentary portfolio committee for youth specifically (see Policy TOC);

• A social compact to address youth unemployment that can underpin interventions

(see Policy TOC);

• Better articulation between the different parts of the education and training system, which includes work-integrated learning options as well as non-accredited but quality assured training programmes (see Supply Side TOC);

• The extension of the ETI, with particular emphasis on reaching small firms, alongside a better understanding of employer behaviour; a campaign to encourage employers to employ young people (see Demand Side TOC); and careful consideration of the intermediary role it could play; and

• The development of an effective intermediary system that provides adequate information to young people about skills needs, training options and employment opportunities, as well as reliable ‘ flags ’ to employers about young

people ’ s training and experience. The system needs to rely on an integrated, transversal approach to policy and implementation for youth employment (see Intermediary TOC).

The above are medium-term changes that need to occur in the context of fundamental changes in the basic education system to promote better outcomes; and of sustained, inclusive economic growth that can absorb young job seekers.