A Research report submitted to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of Demography and Population
Studies for the year 2016 / INTRODUCTION: Youth labour force participation (YLFP) measures the level of economic
activity among the youth. It is measured as the sum of all young people who are employed,
unemployed or looking for work, as a percentage of the youth population. The weakening of
the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues
for available jobs have become longer for young jobseekers (ILO, 2013). This study examines
the association between the level of education and labour force participation among the youth
in South Africa. It also seeks to examine other socio-demographic factors influencing YLFP
in the country.
METHOD: Analysis of the data from a sample of 30144 youth aged 15-35 years who
participated in the South African 2014 Quarterly Labour Force Survey was done using logistic
regression models. In the multiple logistic regression, two models were used. Model 1 included
the following variables: education level, age and gender whilst in model 2 this study controlled
for: population group, type of residence and province because these socio-demographic factors
influence youth labour force participation.
RESULTS: When controlled for potential confounding effects of age, gender, type of
residence, population group and province, youth with higher education were more likely to
participate in labour force as compared to youth who have no or have primary education [(Q1:
OR1 4.28, 95% CI2 3.74 to 4.90); (Q2: OR 4.34, 95% CI 3.78 to 4.97); (Q3: OR 3.91, 95% CI
3.41 to 4.48) & (Q4: OR 3.88, 95% CI 3.38 to 4.45)]. The association between education level
and youth labour force participation was found to be statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: Young people with tertiary qualifications in South Africa are more likely to
participate in the labour force. The evidence from the study shows there is a higher risk of mismatch
for youth at the bottom of the educational pyramid, which is reflected in relatively high unemployment
rates for the low skilled in comparison with the high skilled / GR2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22589 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Khuluvhe, Khaukanani Andrew |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (88-92 pages), application/pdf, application/pdf |
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