Factors Influencing Youth Unemployment in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Jaqueline J.N Seima, Department of Population Studies and Demography, North West University

South Africa is battling the highest youth unemployment and one of the provinces with the highest rate is the Eastern Cape. Youth unemployment is influenced by inadequate skills, experience, qualifications and the number of jobs available. The main objective of the study is to determine factors influencing youth unemployment in the Eastern Cape. The study used secondary data from quarterly labour force survey that was collected in the first quarter of 2022 by Statistics South Africa. The study focused on 1102223 youth aged 15-34 years. Univariate, bivariate and binary logistic regression was used for data analysis. The results showed age, sex, population group, marital status, education, metro/non-metro and geographical type were associated with youth unemployment in the Eastern Cape. The findings of the study will help the government to increase the capacity of governmental departments that deal policies that were implemented to reduce youth unemployment. Keywords: Youth unemployment, Eastern Cape