歌词
From VOA Learning English,
this is the Economics Report.
The South African Department of Labor reported last month
that the nation has too few jobs for unskilled labourers.
The department also said there are not enough workers
for highly skilled positions.
The sharp differences between jobs and skills
were apparent recently
when officials advertised a job opening in the government.
The position was that of auditor-general
or chief financial supervisor.
With a 26 percent unemployment rate nationwide,
there was no shortage of interest in the job.
90 people asked to be considered.
But officials said many of them
lack the necessary skills or education.
The auditor-general is responsible for supervising
and independently examining South Africa's finances.
The advertisement said,
the position required the person to be a trained accountant.
It said candidates had to have at least
a Master's degree and years of experience.
Yet among the job hopefuls were laborers,
a security guard, a secretary
and some whose highest education level was high school.
The Labor Department report
blamed the nation's poor education system.
But for unskilled workers, the story is very different.
Restaurant industry official TJ Van der Walt says
the business he works with
get a huge number of applications for every job.
"We deal in an industry where there's no real skill needed,
so we get literally thousands of applicants
for the positions that we get."
Mr Van der Walt notes that good workers are hard to find.
He says he spends a lot of time
studying the job qualifications of people
who don't have the require skills.
In his words, people just want jobs.
Sejamothopo Motau is a member of South Africa's Parliament.
He says the job market is difficult,
and both skilled and unskilled workers are feeling the pain.
He says education has been a major problem
in South Africa's development.
He notes that many Blacks received a poor education
under white-minority rule.
Apartheid officially ended in 1994.
He says many people are university graduates,
still they can't get jobs
where there is a need for skilled workers.
This is because the education these graduates have
is not enough to place them in jobs with high skill requirements.
"So what it tells us is
-- and I think everybody in this country now accepts that -
- is that there's a mismatch between our education system
and the products of that system,
and the needs, the economic needs, of the country."
Mr Motau's party estimates
that 4 million young South Africans are unemployed.
And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English.
I'm Mario Ritter.