ARTICLE BY:Given Majola
PUBLICATION: IOL
It was important that youth become politically active and fight for policies that could grow the country’s economy to generate jobs, says Youth Employment Service (YES) CEO Ravi Naidoo.
This week the Statistics SA (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey showed youth aged 15-24 and 25-34 recorded the highest unemployment rates of 59.6% and 40.5%, respectively, in the three months between July and September.
Moreover, Stats SA’s showed that about 3.5 million or 34.5% of the 10.2 million young people aged 15-24 were not in employment, education or training (NEET), meaning a 1 percentage point increase in NEET in the third quarter.
Naidoo said in an interview that without economic growth South Africa would not create the jobs it so much needed.
He said three things needed to be done:
Youth readiness for employment
First, South Africa needed to make sure that the youth were ready for employment.
“The best investment we can make in the future is to ensure that the youth get good quality education, skills that are beneficial for the workplace, and get special support to get their first work experiences.
“Youth who get some quality work experience (such as exposure to a YES programme) are three times more likely to transition successfully into permanent or long-term employment,” Naidoo said.
Red tape
Secondly, South Africa needed to make it easier for employers to employ.
“Right now, regulations make it very difficult for small and medium-size businesses to employ. Businesses that have less than 50 employees are expected to comply with the same burdensome regulations as much larger companies. Yet small businesses don’t have HR departments and time for all those unnecessary red tapes,” he added.
Enabling environment
Thirdly, Naidoo called on the government to do a better job in creating the conditions for economic growth and investment such as a better supply of electricity, rail, water, etc.
“These are all things provided by the state. The government must move faster to bring in private sector renewables and such.
“It must also support high potential economic sectors such as mining, agriculture, high-technology sectors and so on through putting in place policies that give investors more certainty and confidence to invest.
“Where the government lacks the capacity to provide services it should really work harder to bring in private sector partnerships to assist it,” Naidoo said.
National Youth Development CEO Waseem Carrim said if South Africa focused its efforts on “jobs” versus earning, the country risked missing a powerful lever to support young people.
“Instead of pulling against the direction of their own efforts, we can amplify them, putting the structural, geographic and personal support in place to help them make the most of what they are already trying to do.
“Our Quarterly Labour Force Survey results continue to emphasise the price we all pay – and will continue to pay, with interest – for decades of structural exclusion. But if we act together to meet excluded young people where they are, with insight and targeted support we can turn an abundance of optimism into true inclusion,” Carrim said.
The digital data and connectivity divide remained a jail sentence that was handed down repeatedly through the generations, he said.
“But, it can also shed light on areas for investment. Both the government and the private sector can drive specific investments to stimulate greater economic mobility, such as innovating and scaling financial products to serve the least banked, or to provide cheap data and connectivity in the least connected areas.
“This allows young people to not have to make a choice between travelling and buying data for work-seeking versus putting food on the table.
“South Africa must solve its structural challenges in relation to energy, transport, digital accessibility, violence and crime, and foreign accessibility to unlock growth and catalyse the economy, but while these measures are being addressed there are a number of initiatives which can be undertaken,” Carrim said.