Unemployment

If there is anything that can drain someone, it has to be the feeling one has when they can’t seem to get a job, no matter how hard they try or how many times they apply for one.

It’s the feeling of not knowing how you will pay your next rent, when you will have food on your table or how you will survive. Anxiety starts to creep in and uncertainty about your future becomes inevitable.

American author Tejvan Pettinger defines unemployment as “a situation where someone of working age is not able to get a job but would like to be fully employed”. Moreover, unemployment is said to be an economic condition where individuals actively seeking jobs remain un-hired.

Let me briefly explain this by giving an example: If a mother left her job to bring up a child or if someone went for further studies, they would not be classified as unemployed because they are not actively seeking employment.

Basically they are in this situation by choice.

Unemployment in Namibia

Despite the high rate of unemployment in our country, it is a bit promising to know that the rate has decreased to 33,4% in 2018 from 34% in 2016. The unemployment rate in Namibia averaged 27,94% from 1997 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 37,6% in 2008 and a record low of 19,5% in 1997. This is according to our country’s statistics agency.

However, based on the Labour Survey Report 2018 launched in March, Namibia still has a long way to go in meeting the country’s national development plan (NDP5) targets of reducing the unemployment rate to 24% by 2022 and the youth unemployment to 33% by the same deadline.

Coping with unemployment in Namibia is extremely difficult, especially if you are supposed to be the breadwinner of your family. It can also be damaging on so many levels: Professionally, psychologically, and, mostly, financially. When we are unemployed, we start doubting our worth because so much of our identity was wrapped up in our careers. In many ways, we are what we do and being unemployed can rock us to the core.

I feel like one of the solutions that can help reduce the unemployment rate is by doing away with the idea of ‘voluntarily employment’. This basically occurs when the unemployed decides not to take a job at the going wage rate (eg wrong job, benefits too low, etc).

They could be seen as unemployed because they are still seeking a job and they just don’t want to take the one they are offered. This is wrong. I always advise people to take whatever job offer they get until something better comes along.

It’s pointless sitting at home with your IT degree refusing to be an administrative officer simply because you studied to become a software engineer. Times are tough, requirements are getting harder as years go by, and the best you can do is just take the job. Trust me, it’s better than nothing.

Overall, unemployment is a very serious social and economic issue that results in a tremendous impact on everything but is often overlooked. Perhaps the government should propose a stronger system of assessing unemployment in order to determine its causes and how to address it better.

Natasha ‘Lientjies’ Domingo is an author who enjoys reading and writing stories. Follow her page ‘Tasha’s Short Stories’ on Facebook for weekly content.