Denis Opudo
Some people have seen technology and specifically mobile phones as a remedy for the high number of unemployed youths in Africa. The mobile devices have been extensively used in various activities like quick access to information, job applications, getting in touch with the potential employers just to mention but a few. A study which was carried out and funded by the Social Research Council and the Department for International Development and UK Economic reported that some African youths had used the mobile devices to create or access employment successfully. However, the number of those who have failed to secure or create jobs via the same method is higher.
A study was carried out in South Africa, Malawi, and Ghana that highlighted main reasons why mobile phones are stumbling block to the job acquisition by the African youths. The study stated that those connected by phones are just but a handful. At the same time, the quality of jobs accessible by mobile phones is questionable in that they don’t meet international wage rules. Malawi and Ghana have a good number of informal sectors that have extensively offered some jobs for the youth, and this is due to the presence of mobile phones. Selling of airtime or repairing of the handsets are just but some of the informal employment offered by mobile phones.
Since the end of apartheid in 1994 in South Africa, the country has failed to advance the informal sector. A good number of youths in the country tend to go for formal employment since they run short of skills that will make them in the mobile phones informal employment. Truth be told, the mobile phones cannot offer the required pool of employment unless there is a good intervention.
Most young people tend to seek employment opportunities in the informal sectors at an early age in Malawi and Ghana. This comes with some problems that can only be solved by giving limited input in the informal sectors within those countries. For a decade now the mobile phones have changed the way of operation for youths. However, the changes are only but a short-term like the charging of mobile phones. Almost every household now can access power making the mobile phones owners charge at their doorsteps hence rendering the youths jobless. Despite the fact that that dedicated youths have been able to raise money from the mobile phones employment and used them for their studies.
The differences between the informal sectors in Malawi and Ghana compared to South Africa are two worlds apart. In Ghana and Malawi, the informal sector is dominant irrespective of the many challenges it faces; it instills into the youths basics skills and labor absorption mechanisms which helps them in the later stages of their lives. In South Africa, the low number of informal sectors denies youths with low skills rendering the possibility of getting average paying jobs in future. The South African government should look for the best ways of helping the young population acquire skills at an early age.
For example, there should be an introduction to the travel vouchers which will help youths that lack transport to travel where there is labor demand easily. The government should introduce the skills training and development at secondary, post-secondary, and at the workplace. The National Youth Service, public youth programs and the NGO’s should be extra active. At the same time, the government should try to help the unemployed youths by giving an extensive support package.
