Youth Perspectives

Do young people hold the key to ending poverty?

Residents stand outside a spaza convienience shop in Cape Town's Imizamo Yethu township, April 19, 2014. Along with shebeens, or corner taverns, spazas are one of the most visible parts of township life, and a major component of South Africa's vast informal economy. While recent data on the informal economy is hard to come by, a 2002 study by the University of South Africa's Bureau of Market Research estimated that spaza shops brought in around $705 million a year, employing up to 290,000 people. Those numbers will have come under pressure over the last decade as real estate developers and big grocers such as Shoprite and Pick N Pay push into black areas, targeting rising consumer spending. Picture taken April 19.

People aged between 15 and 34 in Africa are most likely to be unemployed, but a $4billion African Development Bank fund aims to create 25 million jobs. Image: REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

Linda Doke
Writer, Mail & Guardian
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Youth PerspectivesFuture of WorkEconomic Progress
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