Abstract
Youth unemployment appears to be a growing issue in South Africa. Many studies and policies have arisen regarding its root causes, the drivers and how it impacts young people. This study aims to look at some drivers of youth unemployment and comparatively asses how they manifest and affect young people in the rural and urban areas. Using the GHS 2019, this study specifically looks at data from an individual level and uses demographics and socioeconomic variables to understand how they can change the odds of a young person being employed. This study is conducted quantitatively and uses literature to support and give meaning to the results. In addition, this study used descriptive statistics to explain the socio-demographic and socio-economic profile of youth between the ages of 15 and 34 and also employed bivariate analysis to understand if there were differences in the levels of unemployment for youth in rural and urban areas. Two logistic regression models were conducted to explain the significant effect of the variables on youth employment. The result indicated that urban and rural areas both exhibited unemployment levels with urban areas showing higher rates of unemployment compared to rural areas. Furthermore, the results showed that geographic location does contribute to how some of the variables affected young people and that it is an important variable to consider even for future policy analysis and implementation. Importantly, the conclusion of this study suggests that analysis done at levels such as the GHS should incorporate to a detailed level spatial (geographic) data because geographical analysis of unemployment can only be effective if conducted within regions and not necessarily between regions.
Key terms: General Household Survey, Youth unemployment, Rural areas, Urban areas.