Young people have been the biggest losers in the job market during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to Economist and Director at Nascence Advisory and Research, Xhanti Payi.
Payi says many young South Africans have lost their jobs since the lockdown came into effect.
Recent data released by Statistics South Africa paints a bleak picture of youth unemployment.
First-quarter unemployment figures show that 46.3 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 34 are unemployed.
While many young South Africans have turned to entrepreneurship, Payi says the odds may still be stacked against them.
“I’ve said this many times, I think entrepreneurship is a cruel hoax on South Africans. Remember, I can speak on my personal experience. The literature is very decisive that the people who make it in entrepreneurship are people with good personal backgrounds and support, good education systems, and good networks to be successful in entrepreneurship. We also know that the majority of people who are not making it in business are black people. They don’t have many networks because they come from poor communities.”
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