Information Cost of Unemployment

1. Information Cost of Unemployment A. Jukuda and K. Diga

2. Background • World wide youth unemployment is 75.1 million • 23.5 per cent are youth of the total “working poor” or defined as those working but living below the US $1.25 per day poverty line (ILO: 2011) • SA no exception (SA Statics 2010)

3. Factors of youth unemployment

4. Cost of job searching

5. World wide ICT uptake • Proliferation of ICT/ mobile use by the youth world wide • Source: Chris Benner

6. SA ICT uptake • ICT uptake reflects socio-economic patterns • The General House Survey (GHS: 2011) reported that nationally, only 9,1% of households did not have access to either landlines or cellular phones in 2011. • 75,5% of households had access to at least one cellular phone • Households in historically rural provinces such as Mpumalanga (87,1%) and Limpopo (88,3%) were most likely to rely on more accessible cellular telephones • Households in Northern Cape (19,3%) and Eastern Cape (16%) were least likely to have access to phone services (cellular or landline). • Almost a third of South African households (32,9%) had at least one member who used the Internet either at home, work, the place of study, or Internet cafés. • Households in Western Cape (52,1%) and Gauteng (47,0%) were most likely to use the Internet while households in Limpopo (15,3%) were least likely to do

7. ICT uptake by government • Recent uptake of ICT (newspaper, internet pages) to bring jobs to the youth has been undertaken by the government • Who is this information for? There seems to be a disconnect between the information provided by government and the majority of unemployed youth.

8. Digital divide • Socio-economic • Geographical • Education level • Resources (access) • Technological skills

9. Potential and opportunity of mobile services

10. Rationale for the study • This exploratory research comes from previous work done by UKZN with the United Nations on Youth employment which has led to the publication of the recent World Youth Report (2011). UKZN researchers were asked to host a weekly e-discussion on the topic, “looking for a job” 25-31 October 2011. Within this week, it was clear that while many youth were using their business or social networks (informal and formal) to search for jobs, there were also some who were using social media and online tools. The report reveals a gap of understanding what and how are youth using ICT tools to search for work as well as the cost implications in the job search.

11. Theoretical framework • Sen’s concept of Capability approach: The mobile phone constitutes the basis of human development expansion • Mobile phones and their networks thus provide people with resources that enable them capabilities to use such as tools for development. • Digital poverty: Digital poverty is another dimension of poverty • The dimension of digital poverty examines at a household or individual unit of analysis the possible deprivation of capabilities, ability, access and ownership of communication technology and income level in the current information-rich society.

12. Methodology • Exploratory study: This exploratory study looks at youth who are currently or have previously searched for work in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and briefly examines their means of locating information on jobs and the costs which were incurred in searching. • Sample: 30 students(average age 21), youth comes from a community mix of urban, peri-urban, township or rural areas • Level of education Matric: 3 First year at university: 6 Second year: 5 Third year and over: 16 • The youth were asked about access to ICTs within their communities, their methods of searching for jobs and the costs of looking for work.

13. Findings: Access to computers

14. Findings: looking at cost • 18 participants (predominantly 3rd years and above) who had looked for jobs used computers through the university (thus it was free) • None of the matriculates used computers, and only 1 first year student used computers for job searching • Those leaving in townships with access alluded that they only used internet café’s only when they have money

15. Mediums used to access employment information (according to level of education) • Computer with internet: Matric – 0, First year – 1, Second year – 2, third year and above – 14 • However the participants used university facilities due to transport and hourly rate costs implicated in searching for employment • The highest rate per hour was R 32 (other amounts: R20, R22) which is very expensive especially if one is unemployed. • The longest distance travelled to get to a computer was 20 km. • Mobile phones: Second year – 2 Third year and above – 4 • This is significantly lower than the choice of using a computer • The choice to use computers instead of mobile phones is influenced by other factors that come into play, such as that mobile phones do not always portray the whole website. • The cost of airtime varied from R12 to R 60. • Newspaper: Matric – 3, First year – 1, Second year – 1, Third year and above – 6 • What is crucial to note is that those who have the most exposure (and most familiar) to computers (Third years) have less interest in using newspapers as their employment source.

16. Government sites dedicated to the youth

17. New mobile phone technologies aimed at providing employment vacancies • MSR South Africa website: This site allows day laborers to sign up so that they are linked to any casual work • Micro-work: allows employers to assign small tasks like translating small bits of text, to those with mobile phones • Uusi: a Mxit online platform which allows users to create a mobile CV and search for relevant work

18. Recommendations • mobile costs must be drastically cut • Government develop low-cost / free mobile platform for job searching (inclusive) –ie building CV, adverts, • Allow electronic communication for submitting job applications especially government jobs