1,720,985 research outputs found
An Exploratory Study Of The Variation In Unemployment Length Of Graduates Of Different Degree Programs
Full text linkThe drive to reduce poverty and unemployment in most developing or newly industrialized countries has many forms, the most common avenue, however, is the provision of education and a resultant expectation of employment. South Africa has in the past decade struggled with the issue of unemployment. Even in the face of very high graduate rates compared to other countries in the region, there is still high unemployment. The most common in South Africa is frictional as opposed to structural. An obvious expectation is that once people have attended tertiary education, getting a job should be easier than those without any education. However, there seems to be a mismatch between the skills required in the workplace and the skills the graduates looking for jobs have. Using data from graduates of one of the big universities in South Africa, the study investigated on the time, graduates take to get a job focusing on graduates from different degree programs. The results show that graduates eventually get employed but differences exist in the waiting period. The results show that of the six degree programs namely Bachelor of Commerce in Economics, BCom Human Resources, Bachelor of Arts Psychology, Bachelor of Education (BEd), Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts in Law, the law degree graduates have the longest waiting period and the BEd has the shortest waiting period before getting employed. The study, however, showed that all the graduates in the sample were employed. The results also indicated that 58percent of the graduates in the sample were not employed in the field they studied in. The study therefore recommended that to deal with unemployment in general, people should be afforded the opportunity to study for a degree, and that although low paying, BEd provides higher prospects of employment than most other degrees
Career choice and unemployment length: a study of graduates from a South African university
Full text linkGraduate unemployment is especially problematic in a country where much emphasis is placed on furthering academic studies for economic and personal rewards. This article investigates the relationship between career choice and unemployment length among graduates from a South African university. Data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire distributed to graduates in the university's alumni database. An analysis of variance model was estimated and various descriptive analyses and an ordinary least squares regression were employed. The study finds that the specific majors held by graduates not only influence employment status but also the time taken to find employment. Although human resources, industrial psychology, labour relations management, public administration, public management and politics remain the most popular majors, many graduates in these areas have to wait a long time before securing a job. In light of their findings, the authors recommend that university courses should be as practically oriented as possible in order to help graduates in the job market and consequently to make the transition from education to work an easier one. For their part, graduates need to ensure that they make wise and informed career choices. The government needs to put into effect direct interventions that will enhance and augment teaching and learning throughout the educational system, bearing in mind that the choice to study a certain discipline may be affected by many factors, some of which are beyond the control of the student, such as the quality of school education or socio-economic background
Determinants of the perceptions of free Higher Education among students at a South African University
Full text linkThe debate on the mode of financing of higher education is not a new one. For decades, there have been opposing views and conflicting efforts in as far as the financing of higher education is concerned. Most developed countries have more or less settled on a regime that does not compromise on both quality and equity by introducing financing mechanisms that allow the needy to borrow money or commonly known as soft loans only payable after graduating and securing a job. In developing countries, there is still antagonism and a lot of frustration among students and parents in the sense that higher education is still not accessible by many and the financing of the same still excludes the majority of deserving students. Towards the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016, students in South African universities rose up to first demand no increment of their tuition and thereafter free higher education. This paper looks at the perceptions of free higher education among students at one of the universities in South Africa and also assesses the demographic characteristics that inform their cosmological point of view and hence the perceptions
The Nexus of food and housing insecurity in South Africa: the case of Bophelong and Sharpeville townships
Full text linkConsidered a human right, housing and food security can be viewed as basic to what defines an individual's well-being and is enshrined in the South African Constitution. In any country, affordable housing and food security are central to development to ensure an adequate healthy lifestyle. What makes the link between housing and food security important is that in a household with inadequate resources, housing and food security can be in a competing relationship and may even involve a trade-off between each other. Furthermore, food insecurity and housing insecurity are important components in poverty reduction policies. In this study, a random sample of 600 households was taken based on a quantitative research method. Two low income neighbourhoods were selected in the Emfuleni Municipal area in Southern Gauteng, South Africa. The relationship between food insecurity and housing insecurity was analysed using different statistical techniques. To measure food insecurity the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) developed by the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) was used, while a housing security measurement scale was developed. The research found that a trade-off exists between housing and food security and, in many cases, food insecurity and housing insecurity exist at the same time. The research established the link between food insecurity, housing insecurity and poverty. Recently, a number of studies focused on food security from an urban perspective, however a limited number of studies focused on housing security, with no focus on the relationship between food and housing insecurity. The findings of this study contribute to the existing body of knowledge on food insecurity, housing insecurity, and the how they can be incorporated in the fight against poverty
Perceptions of household heads on the causes of child poverty in Boipatong Township
Full text linkChildren experience poverty within the context of the households they live in. Methodologically and ethically, it is not permissible to ask children what they perceive to be the cause of their poverty status. The possibility of obtaining incomprehensible data is high if children and minors are included as respondents in any data collection process. Reliance, therefore, is placed on the adults that are either guardians or parents of the children to speculate on what they perceive to be the causes of child poverty. Using data collected from Boipatong Township in Gauteng Province, South Africa, a multiple regression is used to determine characteristics of the of household associated with the perceptions on causes of poverty. The perceptions are divided into the categories common to the traditional causes of poverty as pioneered by Feagin, namely fate, structural and individualistic. The unique twist of the paper, however, is the replacement of the individual child with the adult responsible for the child. The results show that household income, qualification of the household head and household size were some of the significant determinants of perceptions of the causes of child poverty
Determining the factors that influence female unemployment in a South African township
No full textThis paper analyses the factors that determine female unemployment in Bophelong Township. Factors such as level of education, household size, age, marital status, social grants received and poverty status are used to determine their influence on the employment status of the households of Bophelong Township. A logistic regression model was employed to analyse the possible determinants of female unemployment. The results of the regression indicate that, of the determinants, household size, age, marital status, access to social grants and poverty status were found to be significant determinants of whether one is employed or not.http://www.sosbilko.net/journal_IJSS/arhieves/IJSS_2013_1/Diana_Joan_Viljoen.pd
Coping strategies among the food–insecure household in Malawi, a case of female and male–headed household in south eastern of Malawi
Full text linkFood insecurity remains a serious concern in most developing countries. The fact that so many households are considered to be food insecure makes pertinent the question as to how these households survive. As food is vital for survival, there is always a minimum amount of food that is needed albeit small and within the food insecurity category. Households that are food insecure use different strategies in order to cope with their situation. There are varied coping strategies that can be applied by the head of household to ration or prioritise who should eat what, when and what amount. The study uses a questionnaire to collect data collected from Malawi in the Eastern region of the country which is among the regions that are characterized by food insecurity. The data is used to assess the coping strategies used by different households, and understand what determines the chosen coping strategy for a given household. The results of the statistical analysis showed that, food insecure households employed more coping strategies than the food secure households. The regression results show that gender, location, employment status and income are all significant predictors of household vulnerability. The results also show that female heads of households are more vulnerable than the male counterparts. The study, therefore puts to the fore the need to address gender disparities in the effort to deal with food security, and poverty in general
The Effect of Farm Input Subsidy Program on Food Poverty Dynamics in Malawi
Full text linkAs part of poverty alleviation and reduction of food insecurity in Malawi, the Malawi Government launched the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) in 2005/06. The programme is a continuation and expansion of previous subsidy programmes which were designed for the same purpose as the current subsidy programme. Although evaluation studies show that FISP registered success in its first five years, there has been limited research analysing the effectiveness of the programme. This study purposed to investigate how the programme has contributed to food poverty transition during the period 2010 and 2013. The study adopts a Multinomial Logit Model and uses Integrated Household Panel Survey Data of 2010 and 2013 from national statistical office to measure food poverty dynamics between the two periods. Other variables which are expected to influence food poverty dynamics are also explored. Results show that FISP does not increase chances of moving out of food poverty. Rather, education greatly provides higher chances of moving out of food poverty. Between gender that have the same qualification, men have a greater probability of moving a household out of poverty. It was also found that household size has a negatively relationship with the probability of moving out of food poverty. The study recommends that government should strengthen the monitoring, evaluation and audit systems in order to make the FISP programme effective again.</jats:p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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