Magister Economicae - MEcon / The South African economy faces a challenging socio-economic problem of high and persistent unemployment since the transition. Looking at the unemployment problem in greater perspective, numerous studies found that it is most serious amongst the youth. Since the beginning of the 2000s, a few studies focused particularly on youth and graduate unemployment, but there has been a lack of research in this area in recent years. Hence, this dissertation aims to fill some gap in the available research by investigating the extent, nature and causes of graduate unemployment in South Africa. This study firstly defined the relevant concepts and discussed some theories relevant to graduate unemployment, before reviewing the results of the past studies on the nature and extent of graduate unemployment. Thereafter, the possible causes were investigated, such as lack of experience, lack of soft skills, skills mismatch, poor quality of education of the graduates, discrimination by employers, etc. Graduate unemployment in India, China and Europe were also considered, and it was found that graduate unemployment was not in a unique problem in South Africa. The study proceeded with an analysis the Statistics South Africa 1995-2010 labour survey data and conducted more up-to-date statistical analyses of the profile of graduate unemployed. The results showed that the characteristics of unemployed graduates were, in general, the same as what was found by the previous studies, as graduate unemployed were more likely to be female and black, aged 15-34 years at the time of the survey, residing in Gauteng, with only post-Matric certificates or diplomas, and graduating from the fields of Business /Commerce / Management, and Education / Training / Development. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was also applied, and the results indicated that employment discrimination against black graduates was very likely, after controlling for differences in demographic and educational attainment blacks and whites. Hence, the results of the empirical analysis showed that graduate unemployment persists. Finally, graduate employment elasticity coefficients and employment absorption rates were derived by educational attainment category, and the results showed that although graduate unemployment is clearly less serious than unemployment in other educational categories, the labour demand for graduates is not rapid enough to absorb all the graduates.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (School of Business and Finance) / Entrepreneurial firms, entrepreneurial capital, entrepreneurial ecosystem and entrepreneurial economy are a few terminologies that have emerged since the resurgence of entrepreneurship, arising from the 1990's entrepreneurial revolution in the United States of America. Entrepreneurship education, a paradigm shift from the conventional, has been identifies as being critical to fostering entrepreneurship, building entrepreneurial capital, growing entrepreneurial economy and ultimately delivering sustainable economic growth and developmend for any nation - emerging or developed. From America to Africa, entrepreneurship modules with varies objectives and designs have multiplied in the last decade.

En Tunisie, la massification et la démocratisation de l’enseignement supérieur ont explosé le nombre de diplômés qui éprouvent des difficultés d’insertion professionnelle depuis le début des années 1980, cette conjoncture a été l’un des principaux déclencheurs de la révolution du 14 janvier 2011.Comme dans plusieurs des pays, l’origine du chômage des diplômés tunisiens réside essentiellement dans le déphasage entre les formations (investissement en capital humain) et les besoins des entreprises (l’investissement en matière d’emploi).Ce phénomène ne manque pas d’avoir des conséquences sociodémographiques importantes. En effet, les individus en difficulté d’insertion sont souvent victimes d’un sentiment de marginalisation, voire d’exclusion, notamment des transactions matrimoniales (retard de leur date de mise en couple qui aura des conséquences sur la fécondité). Les diplômés développent alors des stratégies pour échapper au chômage tels que l’émigration, la poursuite des études surtout pour les filles ou la création d’entreprises si la situation financière le permet.L’objectif de cette thèse consiste à étudier et à comprendre les interactions entre l’emploi et les phénomènes démographiques. / In Tunisia, the massification and democratization of higher education have exploded the number of graduates who have employability problems since the early 1980s, this situation was one of the main triggers of the Revolution of January 14, 2011. As in many countries, causing the unemployment Tunisian graduates lies essentially in the phase shift between training (human capital investment), and business needs (investment in employment). This phenomenon does not fail to have significant sociodemographic consequences. Indeed, individuals with insertion difficulties often experience a sense of marginalization or exclusion, including matrimonial transactions (delay their date of couple formation will affect fertility). Graduates eek to developing strategies to escape unemployment to escape unemployment such as emigration, further education especially for girls or business creation if the financial situation allows.The objective of this thesis is to study and understand the interactions between employment and demographic phenomena.

Text in English / In its proposal of a communication strategy that will be of use as an enabling tool for increasing graduate employment potential, this study contributes uniquely to the discipline of communication. It envisages that communication takes into consideration the involvement of the key stakeholders, namely: government, labour market, education system, and media. Amid unemployment challenges that affect the majority of the population, media is regarded as a powerful tool to reach the majority of the population. With specific regard to graduate unemployment, media-driven interaction with unemployed graduates is not as efficient as it should be. Factors contributing to graduate unemployment are identified as career choices, skills shortage, job opportunities, career development, work experience, skills development, entrepreneurial skills, internships, and access to the labour market. It is also important to note that media is regarded as tool for disseminating information about such factors. In order to address this problem, the study establishes an integrated communication strategy that will be of use as an enabling tool for increasing the potential of graduate employment. The role of such communication could be applicable in various ways, such as organisational communication, business communication, public communication, personal communication, interpersonal communication, etc. This study locates itself in the domain of public communication because information about unemployment issues is a matter of public concern. This study adopts mixed research methodologies, with a survey research design—in order to gather data from the graduate students at a University of Technology. The study found that while social and print media are highly preferred and used due to their accessibility, there is a need to stress their use with regard to employment search. The main concepts that contributed to the establishment of the strategy included strategic communication, unemployment and media. It must be here noted that, for purposes of this study, strategic communication was informed by a confluence of the constitutive model of communication, systems theory, and situational theory of publics. The phenomenon of unemployment is informed by unemployment approaches, on the one hand, and the Maslow theory of needs, on the other. Furthermore, the understanding of the concept of media is informed by mass communication approaches and media richness theory. This thesis expects that, as an outcome, such a communication strategy would increase graduate employment potential. Public relations planning model is applied in the study in order to guide the implementation of the proposed communication strategy. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication Science)

This research focuses on an issue that has persisted in Greece over recent decades – long-term youth unemployment. The issue has worsened in the last few years, however, in particular following unprecedented historical times caused by a worldwide economic recession that hit Greece particularly hard. This recession that was triggered by events in the United States in 2008, set off a worldwide recession, the effects of which continue to affect countries like Greece today. It is in this context that the post-secondary graduate unemployment rate in the country soared to 20% in 2010 and has since continued to follow an upward trend. What is more, the Greek economy, with debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio reaching more than 140% in 2010 and 165% in 2011, is not showing signs of improvement. This situation is far from encouraging for unemployed Greek youth. Grounded theory (GT) methodology is undertaken in this study which borrows from both Glaserian and Straussian GT method approaches. A Constructivist Grounded Theory perspective is used to interpret findings as the thesis analyses barriers to employment, understandings and coping mechanisms in relation to Greek graduate unemployment and identifies prospects for the future. Six participants were recruited through convenience sampling and informed research through in depth interviews. Unemployed post-secondary graduates interviewed in this study offered uniquely grounded data to inform my analysis and shared timely information amidst the challenging context of the Greek fiscal crisis. The situation has gained much international attention and opened the door for re-thinking and new possibilities. Given that the economic situation in the Eurozone is inextricably linked to the conditions in its member states, this study considers employment policy in both Greece and the European Union (EU). The thesis concludes by suggesting some potential areas for further research. / Graduate

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