Issue 2, Vol 11: 6 March 2014 In this issue:
Youth Unemployment: is SA coming or going Youth Unemployment: is SA coming or going Mawethu Rune writes While youth unemployment remains a stubborn challenge massive progress has been registered and it requires more than loud rhetoric and empty slogans for electioneering. Youth unemployment is a global challenge that confronts every country, further compounded by 2008 economic recession. The South African phenomenon is however, that youth unemployment is structural and has racial dimension with black Africans at the receiving end. This is largely due to structure of the economy which remains highly monopolised, less industrialised, low skill base with a weak manufacturing base. How progress made in 20 years in particular the last five years cannot be recognised by organisations who claim to represent youth is unsettling. It is now common cause that: When the global crisis took place, 1 million jobs across all sectors in the economy were lost. Those jobs have been recovered due to the 1 trillion infrastructure roll out. Since 1995, 1.7 million new jobs for youth. Currently 6.1 million youth in jobs out of 15 million people at work Between April 2009 and September 2013, Expanded Public Works program created 3, 7 million work opportunities. R2.7 billion for loans and grants for young entrepreneurs through the NYDA, IDC and SEFA. National Rural Youth Service Corps from the present enlist 14,000 to 50,000 in the next five years. National Students Financial Scheme increased from R3,1bn in 2009 to the current R9,6bn, non-payment by poor students on FET sector, no fee schools more than 80 %, social assistance is now reaching 16 million south Africans to alleviate poverty and unemployment This does not mean that all is well. There are still too many young people not in any form of training or work, and then a question arises as to what must be done. There are various policy instruments in the past five years developed to assist in responding to youth unemployment like the : National Development Plan, Industrial Policy Action Plan, Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Commission, New Growth Path, Skilling young people – Access to Universities, FET Colleges, Internships, Leaderships, SETA’s; EPWP, Youth Employment Accord, Youth Tax Incentive Scheme The Youth Employment Accord as product of collective application of youth organizations including DA youth presents the most rationale job creation in the short-term; this accord contains a set of six commitments that all social partners have subscribed to. It recognizes that education and skills development matters for job creation, further it identifies five other areas of work exposure, private sector measures, public sector measures, youth target set-asides as well as youth entrepreneurship and youth cooperatives. However it is concerning that private sector has not come to the party as the aim is not only to produce more youth workers but more young entrepreneurs and particularly young black entrepreneurs, focused on small youth business enterprises because these create more work opportunities and change economy ownership patterns. Further ANC Manifesto for the incoming administration contains bold and decisive elements in responding to youth development ANC has committed itself on the next five years on the building of state capacity to lead radical transformation of the economy through massive industrialisation and infrastructure development which will ensure sustainable and distributive growth anchored on sustainable job creation. The massive infrastructure program, local beneficiation, new technologies is a commitment that the state will strive for 70 % local content as announced, this is a very important step to set massive job and business opportunities for young people. On skilling and training increasing quality and quantity of FETs has happened as more than one million students have enrolled in 2014, with additional 500,000 students in the next five years. Further twelve new campuses for FET colleges will be completed in 2014. Expanded public works programme will expose at least 4 million young people to work opportunities out of overall 6 million. In the infrastructure programmes, 60% of jobs on new infrastructure projects will be set aside for young people. The ANC Manifesto affirms that strategic minerals will be identified with active measures taken to ensure security of supply of these minerals to achieve national objectives such as industrialisation and local beneficiation. With state owned mining company working on being strengthened to capture share in the market Infrastructural investment will drive industrialisation, value addition and manufacturing further unlocking the vast mineral wealth of the country and support real industrialisation that attend to apartheid spatial distortions that diversify and compliment the mineral belt and almost ensuring local beneficiation or participation with all nine provinces. It is clear that the ANC government inherited a neglected South African youth and although a lot of progress has been registered much more still needs to be done in particular in restructuring the economy and its ownership, growing the industrial and manufacturing base and expanding of the youth skilling programme. Mawethu Rune is the Deputy National Chairperson of the YCLSA Sent from my iPhone -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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