Young adults facing an uphill battle on the job market

Goemeone Mokgara has had a tough time searching for employment during the pandemic, without success.

But, the 28-year-old film graduate from Malvern, east of Johannesburg, has not lost hope.

Mokgara last worked for a week in May as a production trainee.

She enrolled in a public relations course in 2013 before studying film and production at Afda, graduating in 2015.

“When I went to train in film production, I chose an institution that is regarded as the best in Africa. At school they were telling us that they are preparing us for the industry, I thought in my mind that when I graduate, everything will flow.

“I thought that I was going to finish school, get a job and work permanently for a particular company after which I would then start my own production company,” she said.

Mokgara is one of many people who have struggled to find employment in SA over the past two years. Stats SA’s latest figures, show that 7.8m people are jobless – the highest number since 2008.

“After that opportunity, I told myself that I do not want to work for anyone. I got recommendations from the people I had worked with but I wanted to start something of my own. Things did not work out the way I’d expected,” Mokgara said.

The longest period she has worked was 10 months in 2017 as a peer educator.

 “During Christmas you hear people saying – we are going to do that and this but you cannot state what you will do because you do not have an income,” she said.

Another unemployed young person, Pretty Phasha, said she has lost hope in seeking employment in Johannesburg and will spend Christmas with her family in rural Limpopo.

Phasha, 23, who lives in Meadowlands, Soweto, has been unemployed for four years since completing matric in 2017.

Phasha said she feels demoralised that she will be spending another festive season without a job.

“I feel bad. I have come to accept that it is difficult to get a job. I do not have an income and cannot do things I want to do."

Phasha said looking for a job for the past four months has been an uphill battle.

“This year alone, I could not apply for five jobs because I did not have money. There was also a job application that I needed to submit physically in Sandton, but I couldn’t because I did not have transport money.”

Phasha, who lives with her parents, said sometimes they gave her money to apply for jobs.

“I spent at most R200 on one job application. This includes the printing of CVs, scanning and sending my application via email.”

She has been a beneficiary of the R350  social relief of distress grant since the start of its rollout in April last year.

“I spend R200 for buying toiletries and use the rest of the money on working on my job and internship applications. I really need a job.”