PROMOTING YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
PROMOTING YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
In the wake of the latest proposals by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report on the South African economy, particularly the proposed measures to tackle youth unemployment, it becomes more urgent for various strata of society to refine strategies aimed at addressing the escalating youth unemployment. However to simply propose short term measures will not wish away the increasingly compounding challenge that continues to eat at the core of our country’s social fibre. Unlike many European countries with ageing populations, South Africa has the most youthful population, positively demonstrated in the last National General Elections and confirmed recently by the 2010 Mid-year Population Estimates report released by Statistics SA.
While negative characteristics of this youthful population can be seen leading from the front during community protests, by going out in their numbers to vote in the last general elections young people demon- strate that they want both a bright future for themselves and the country. The nega- tive characteristics however suggest that if not carefully guided their energies can be misdirected or even manipulated by those who have malice intents.
In August 2006 Minister Mdladlana re- ferred to it as the youth unemployment time bomb; he cautioned that it is about to explode unless the country provides ac- cess to learning, livelihood opportunities, employment and other contextual and so- cial aspects that make up the entire socio- economic spectrum.
The OECD report contains some progres- sive recommendations including improved basic education, job search assistance and better access to credit for small enterpris- es. However the unfounded training-based wage subsidy carries with a high poten- tial of unintended consequences and will achieve very little in improving the condi- tions of youth. Instead of decisively dealing with the challenge, the proposal could turn
young people into glorified slaves of com- panies in the interest of maximising profits. One such limitation is a potential cycle of hiring a young person for a chosen period at a minimum wage, releasing them without any clear exit opportunities to go back and join the ranks of the unemployed. Lessons from interventions of similar nature must teach us never to commit similar expensive mistakes without at least modifying areas where they failed.
Interventions such as learnerships, employ- er’s subsidies and internships have failed to make a meaningful impact on youth unem- ployment. Learnerships were implemented on the premise that they will create a skills base that will be absorbed by the labour market; instead they created unsustainable expectations from young people, as they were not absorbed into the labour market. Almost the same can be said about intern- ships. Even with increasing numbers of un- employed skilled young people, the num- bers of young people who are unskilled still far outweigh the ability and willingness of firms to make a meaningful contribution.
What is required is a multi-dimensional ap- proach that will remedy both basic and high- er education on one hand whilst addressing
a basket of issues relating to government policies and programmes, labour market, private sector commitment to develop, nur- ture and retain young talent. Among these is a need for structured and targeted skills development programmes that match the basic needs to grow the country’s econo- my while improving the quality of service delivery. Such interventions will also open up self-employment opportunities for the youth. Necessary to note is that at local government level we are sitting with huge skills shortages such that service delivery is hampered. This provides an opportunity for government to implement skills devel- opment programmes that address service delivery limitations at local government while enhancing youth skills. One such programme is the National Youth Service programme implemented by the National Youth Development Agency in partnership with government departments.
Furthermore the system of basic education must be diversified such that it has both ac- ademic and technical streams so that pupils are taught both the traditional subjects and the technical subjects so that when pupils leave school they have skills to fall back on. Basic technical subjects such as carpentry, sewing, cooking, agriculture, mechanic, etc
have to be re-introduced at basic educa- tion level. These subjects must not be seen as extra-mural subjects but as part of the education system. This speaks to placing emphasis on interventions such as artisan training, to ensure that young people are able to improve their livelihood opportuni- ties when they leave school. It is encourag- ing to note that this is the route the De- partment of Higher Education is adopting.
There can be no uncertainty about the need to avail resources to allow for young people to either start or expand their ex- isting businesses to ensure their participa- tion in the economic mainstream. Given government’s vision and commitment to tackle this problem head on, these radical interventions are required towards halving unemployment by 2014 and to help bring young people to participate in the main- stream economy. Andile Lungisa is the Chairperson of the National Youth Devel- opment Agency and Deputy President of the ANC Youth League. He is writing in his personal capacity.1
1 Lungisa, A. (2011) Promoting youth employ- ment in South Africa. National Youth Develop- ment Agency and African National Congress Youth League.
190 CHAPTER 10 | HIGHER EDUCATION
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