Assessing the Perspectives of the Unemployed on Unemployment in Butterworth, Eastern Cape South Africa

This study assessed the perspectives of the unemployed of Butterworth, Eastern Cape, South Africa, and it looked at their views, attitudes and motives regarding unemployment. Quantitative approach was utilized with the assistance of a closed-ended questionnaire survey of 85 respondents aged between 18 and 55 years, male and female, and variation in skills and educational attainments (primary to Bachelor level). Non-probability judgmental sampling method was utilized, and data analysis was carried out in SPSS to arrive at patterns and correlations. According to Marxist Conflict Theory and evidence-based Keynesian economics, huge unemployment is an emerging structural phenomenon that must have resulted from both capitalist drift and lower aggregate demand. The study shows that unemployed people’s skills do not match the demands of the job market, and lack of experience, low educational levels, low skills, networking, and insufficient job hunting skills are the main causes of unemployment in Butterworth. The fact that 95.3% of the interviewees reported corruption and nepotism in the workplace, where the employers demanded personal acquaintance or bribed money, is notable. As expected, most of the unemployed lacked large selectivity in work, and there was little employment mismatch among the core and higher-educated. Overall conclusion is a lack of new vacancies for employment (94.1% agreement), re-industrialization (100% agreement), and deliberate employment creation attitudes by capitalists (71.8% agreement). Unemployment causes in the research are skills mismatch, corruption, minimum wage policy, and wasteful employment creation. Re-industrialisation, employment creation, in-work training, and technological skill building are the answers. Policy can make human capital a reality and stop discrimination in the labour market. The paper adds to industrial sociology, psychology, and human resource management by placing Butterworth’s unemployment theoretically within Marxist and Keynesian theory and building answers to structural economic exclusion issues. Keywords: Perspectives, Unemployment, South Africa, Butterworth, Eastern Cape