Youths Unemployment and Alternative Strategies for Survival

Abstract

Youth unemployment is a global problem, which has drawn much scholarly attention because of its complex dynamics within different regions and countries. Two common solutions suggested to tackle youth unemployment in African countries are investing in improved quality of tertiary education, and channelling investments to the agricultural sector in order for it to employ youths. This study examines the problem of youth unemployment in Bulawayo, examining the causes, the survival strategies of unemployed youths, and the sustainability of these strategies. It also explores the possibility of absorbing educated youth into agriculture. The study adopted a qualitative case study, focusing on 30 graduate youths in the City of Bulawayo. Young graduates were interviewed utilising a semi structured interview technique. The study found that educated youths in Bulawayo have found it difficult to get jobs in the city and were considering options outside the city. The study also showed that young graduates still consider formal employment as key to livelihoods. The youths also understood what they meant by employment, and did not consider activities in the informal sector or agriculture as employment. In fact, the young graduates had a negative perception of agriculture and preferred informal sector activities to agriculture. As such, the majority of young graduates had found solace in the informal sector, and where involved in a range of activities to survive. The conclusion reached by this dissertation is that young people have used their agency to navigate economic difficulties in a city that cannot provide them with sustainable livelihoods, due to neglect and a failing economy. While there is a gap between their education , training and the prevailing industrial needs, agriculture cannot effectively solve the young people’s problems. Young people require occupations that offer dignity and status, and sustainable livelihoods, and agriculture cannot provide any of these. This has left young people surviving on the underground economy, which although less sustainable than formal employment, can give them the dignity and financial returns.