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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 required 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.
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