Dr Leoni van der Vaart, who is an NWU alumna, receives her PhD in industrial psychology during the autumn graduation ceremony on the campus in Vanderbijlpark.

Dr Leoni van der Vaart, a researcher and lecturer on the NWU’s campus in Vanderbijlpark, might have an idea of their plight, as she focused her PhD studies on the experiences and motivation of unemployed people in South Africa.

 

Leoni, a researcher at the Optentia research focus area and a lecturer in the School of Industrial Psychology and Human Resources Management, identified four types of unemployed people.

 

Firstly, there are the optimists – those who are actively looking for employment, feeling empowered and hopeful that they will find jobs even though they attach less value to employment compared to the other groups.

 

The second group are the people who are desperate. They eagerly search for jobs and attach high value to employment, but their intense feelings of desperation impact negatively on their psychological well-being.

 

Giving up the search

 

Then there are those who are discouraged – they have decreased their search effort and the value they attach to employment. In doing so, their psychological well-being is better – something that is of course less desirable for the economy.

 

The fourth group consists of those who have already adapted to being unemployed – they don’t find job hunting (and employment) important any more, and in that sense they experience better psychological well-being.

 

Leoni says when we refer to “more” or “less” when describing these unemployed people, one should keep in mind that it is relative to the other types.

 

She explains that unemployed people is really amotivated. (According to a medical dictionary it means that they lack any motivation to engage in an activity, due to a lack of perceived competence and/or a failure to value the activity or its outcomes.)

 

Leoni says there are different reasons for being amotivated. These may be personal – for instance, they can’t afford transport to work if they do find employment – or structural – such as a perceived mismatch between their qualifications or skills and those required by prospective employers.