A 2020 World Bank’s Brief demonstrates that youth unemployment total rate among the working force in South Sudan is 20% higher than both the regional and income group 17% and 13% respectively. Youth unemployment poses huge damage to the country’s developmental capabilities, security and peaceful coexistence; to the social fabric through rise of crime; and to the individual via family conflict, mental disorders, psychological and social wellbeing. The focus of this study was to identify and understand factors causing youth idleness, to explore the implication of this matter, and to examine strategies taken by the government to prevent or address the escalation of Massive Youth Unemployment (MYU) in Bor town. The author employed cross-sectional research based on interpretivism approach since numerical explanations alone could not best present and describe the consequences and impacts of youth joblessness. Primary data were gathered with the help of interview protocol questions and observations from 14 participants in Bor town. The research findings show that youth unemployment is caused by civil war and rampant insecurity, rural to urban migration, corruption and nepotism in government institutions, natural disaster and gender discrimination. This study made contributions to youth unemployment in Bor town. It is the first study to produce a theoretical framework for understanding youth unemployment in Bor, including potential causes and consequences in Bor town and in South Sudan as a whole. Further studies will need to rely on and replicate this model. Additionally, the study reveals that youths suffer from family disputes, over dependency, drug abuse and addiction as a result of joblessness, while the community struggles with youth social crimes, poverty and hardship, poor housing and poor health, and lack of social amenities. However, to counteract the effects of youth idleness in Bor town, the research specifies improvement of literacy and innovation, maintaining political and economic stability, initiating entrepreneurship and technology in the form of technopreneurship youth program, among others.

Keywords: youth unemployment, Bor town, strategic measures to joblessness, consequences of idleness, unemployment.