"Idle youth” pl. n.

Youth who are neither employed nor in school; can can have incredibly profound and widely-reaching effects on a community.

Young South Africans are “a disenfranchised majority, largely excluded from major socioeconomic institutions and political processes” because they cannot obtain jobs and are therefore suspended between childhood and fully-independent adulthood. This is not only an economic problem: youth idleness often contributes to social unrest. Increased economic pressure on "idle youth" is tied to “recent protest movements” because youth feel underserved by their governments (Honwana). In addition, violent or extremist groups often successfuly recruit from "idle youth" because young people are looking for a purpose. 

 The severity of this limbo state of “waithood,” where youth have yet to assume the roles and responsibilities that are social indicators of adulthood, is “a function of their family background, level of education and access to resources.”