Expanding job opportunities for disadvantaged youth in
South Africa

Youth unemployment remains a challenge with 73 million young people unemployed globally in 2022 over half of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In South Africa, 41% of young people are unemployed with higher rates among women and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds (Quarterly Labour Force Survey, 2023; De Lannoy et al., 2018). Labour market inefficiencies often lead to poor matches between firms and job seekers, while high job turnover, with 53% of workers changing employers annually (Kerr, 2018), contributes to instability, lower productivity, and higher job search costs. There are several barriers to effective matching for firms and workers. First, hiring practices tend to be exclusionary toward marginalised groups such as youth and women, who are disadvantaged by weaker signals of skills and work experience (Abel et al., 2019), smaller professional networks (Gautier et al., 2018), and fewer referrals (Beaman et al., 2018). Second, job seekers face substantial financial barriers, with active job seekers in Johannesburg spending an average of R430 (€21.41) per week, around half the average weekly earnings of employed individuals (Kiss et al., 2023), while many unemployed individuals live on as little as €5.8 per day. Third, the psychological costs of prolonged unemployment, including reduced motivation and mental health challenges, can further hinder job search efforts (Caliendo et al., 2015; Falk et al., 2006; Jain et al., 2020; Posel et al., 2021). Finally, the risk of job scams can distort search behaviour by lowering the perceived returns to job search and deterring applicants from pursuing potentially valuable but higher risk opportunities.

The project aims to adapt and scale active digital job search innovations to support disadvantaged youth in South Africa. Building on previous offline trials and leveraging support from the FID fund, the initiative seeks to enhance the SAYouth platform to improve job matching, skills recognition, and search strategies. It introduces two key innovations:

1. Innovation 1: Improved recommendation and ranking algorithm. This innovation builds on SAYouth’s current system for matching applicants to vacancies by incorporating measures of soft skills, such as initiative, perseverance, and willingness to learn, gathered through validated psychometric assessments. These indicators will complement existing criteria (education, experience, location, gender) to produce more accurate shortlists for employers. The goal is to improve hiring rates, job match quality, tenure, and wages.

2. Innovation 2: Jobseeker support to increase job search activity and performance. This innovation seeks to raise jobseeker engagement and effectiveness across all job search stages, from applications to interviews, addressing low application rates, high scam risks, and frequent interview no-shows. Several pilot interventions are proposed:

• Job Search Action Planning Tools. Behavioural and digital tools (reminders, planning aids, stress management) delivered via SAYouth to boost weekly job search activity, confidence, and interview readiness.
• Application and Interview Feedback. Simple, structured feedback on CVs, cover letters, or interview performance to help jobseekers improve and stay motivated.
• Transport Subsidies for Interview Attendance. Financial support for transport costs, a major barrier preventing jobseekers from attending interviews.
• Tools to Reduce Job Scam Risks. Guidance on identifying scams, access to scam-checking services, and education on risk signals for jobseekers. And refinement of SAYouth’s existing scam-filtering algorithm and employer verification to reduce false positives and make the platform safer and more inclusive. SAYouth delivers these innovations through its digital platform, WhatsApp services and a toll-free call center ensuring accessibility for job seekers across different regions and backgrounds. By leveraging digital tools the project aims to reduce employment barriers and improve labor market inclusion.

The project aims to improve job search efficiency and hiring outcomes by refining job matching, enhancing skill recognition, and supporting more structured job searches. Integrating soft skills into SAYouth’s ranking algorithm will enable firms to identify a broader pool of qualified candidates, promoting more inclusive hiring and better firm-worker matches. The job search action plan will further encourage structured, goal-oriented job-seeking behaviour.

Overall, the use of information about applicants’ soft skills and the reduction of search barriers are expected to lead to more effective job search processes, higher employment rates, improved match quality, and increased earnings. Further, the project team will also evaluate the impact of these innovations on jobseekers not specifically targeted to study the spillover or market level effects. Testing these innovations at scale will generate valuable insights into their broader applicability for addressing employment challenges.