Youth unemployment in the country is worse than that experienced in many other emerging markets.
According to the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), a circular economy — the process of collecting, transporting, and recycling waste — could generate hundreds of thousands of sustainable jobs and viable small businesses which in turn could curb youth unemployment.
This comes after a survey by Statistics SA revealed figures from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLF) showed the country’s unemployment rate had risen to 25.5% in the third quarter of 2015, up from 25% in the previous quarter.
About 0.7% of the world’s young people are in South Africa, with almost 2% of them being unemployed, Bloemfontein Courant reported.
According to Hermann Erdmann, CEO of Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA), on a planet of finite resources, the circular economy is not optional, it is inevitable.
Erdmann added REDISA had developed a circular economy within South Africa’s tyre industry over the past three years and have seen tangible results with over 2 000 new jobs, and over 200 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) developed and supported.
The QLF also showed the highest share of South Africa’s employed population with tertiary qualifications was among whites and Indians, with 48.6% of employed whites and 33.8% employed Indians having a tertiary.
Meanwhile, more than half of the employed black African and coloured populations have an educational level of less than matric the survey revealed.
Read More: Unemployment increasing
Source: citizen.co
