Essay On Unemployment And Poverty

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Unemployment and poverty are some of the threats that hinder South Africa’s economic growth and development. Failure to render basic services by local Government / Municipalities as mandate the national government catalysis poverty. The stats-SA 2008 mid-year population estimate is 48.7 Million people in South Africa out of which about 21.9% are unemployed. Approximately 18 million South Africans (45% of the population) live in poor households that earn less than R352 per adult per month. Power relations in poor households tend to be characterised by violence, fear, food insecurity, exploitative work and other pathologies. Three of every five South African children grow up in poor households (Human Development Report for South Africa, UNDP, 2000). …show more content…

A number of initiatives and programmes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), Internship programmes, working for water programme, SETA training programmes and National Sanitation Job Creation Programme, have been put in place to address the shortage of skills while also decreasing poverty and unemployment. Unemployment due to ever improving technology is another challenge that the country is facing. Strategic interventions are critical to ensuring that poor start participating in the main stream of the economy and also bridging the gap between the first and second economy. Limited or lack of access to economic opportunities, particularly by youth prevents household from moving out of the poverty web. In some cases, those amongst the unemployed youth have skills and have undergone some form of training. The country’s economy could grow by far if these skills are utilized even on the temporary

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