The youth unemployment has been the number one challenge in South Africa (SA) for long now. It is a socioeconomic challenge that has triggered other social evils like high crime rate and prostitution. This problem is even more prevalent among the poor and the middle-income segment of the population. According to the 2013 data, the jobless rate in SA stood at 63% among the youths. The state of youth unemployment in South Africa is a perennial problem that results from a failure of policies.
One-third of those aged from 14 to 24 are not in any form of employment. Since they are not involved in any formal education or training, they also fall in the category of joblessness. The economic condition is to blame for this.
Other traits that are saleable in the labor market such as good communication skills, work experience, literacy, and technical skills are often missing. This situation resulted from decades of structural failures in the side of the government.
The policies that had been put in place were all supply-side initiatives. These are the initiatives that address the structural causes of the problem. These are mainly directed at equipping youngsters with the necessary skills required for the job. They include upgrading of the formal education system to absorb more people, targeting-post school training, deployment programs and the public employment.
The Community Work Program (CWP) is an example of the programs that are being used to tackle the problem of unemployment in general. Although it does not target youths directly, up to 65% of those enrolled in this program are below the age of 35. It was started in 2008 and aims at supplementing the livelihood of the members with a basic income through some job. .
The Public Deployment Program has also gained fame in South Africa. The program is implemented through the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). The target is to equip the jobless youths with the necessary skills that can make them employable. The program lasts for 12 months, after which the graduates are equipped with the technical skills.
Like many other countries, South Africa has a well-developed program under the National Rural Youth Service Corps burner. The first face was in September of 2010 and the second phase is to begin soon. The program requires a 2 year intensive training after which the trainees are released to undertake the rural development projects. During this time, they are paid by the government and helps raise the living standards of the communities where they work while earning income.
The said programs are focused on the supply side of the problem, the demand side policies implemented so far focuses on giving the employers incentives to employ more people. This in addition to several other policies and proposals on the table should address the problem by open up the economy to absorb more people.
One-third of those aged from 14 to 24 are not in any form of employment. Since they are not involved in any formal education or training, they also fall in the category of joblessness. The economic condition is to blame for this.
Other traits that are saleable in the labor market such as good communication skills, work experience, literacy, and technical skills are often missing. This situation resulted from decades of structural failures in the side of the government.
The policies that had been put in place were all supply-side initiatives. These are the initiatives that address the structural causes of the problem. These are mainly directed at equipping youngsters with the necessary skills required for the job. They include upgrading of the formal education system to absorb more people, targeting-post school training, deployment programs and the public employment.
The Community Work Program (CWP) is an example of the programs that are being used to tackle the problem of unemployment in general. Although it does not target youths directly, up to 65% of those enrolled in this program are below the age of 35. It was started in 2008 and aims at supplementing the livelihood of the members with a basic income through some job. .
The Public Deployment Program has also gained fame in South Africa. The program is implemented through the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). The target is to equip the jobless youths with the necessary skills that can make them employable. The program lasts for 12 months, after which the graduates are equipped with the technical skills.
Like many other countries, South Africa has a well-developed program under the National Rural Youth Service Corps burner. The first face was in September of 2010 and the second phase is to begin soon. The program requires a 2 year intensive training after which the trainees are released to undertake the rural development projects. During this time, they are paid by the government and helps raise the living standards of the communities where they work while earning income.
The said programs are focused on the supply side of the problem, the demand side policies implemented so far focuses on giving the employers incentives to employ more people. This in addition to several other policies and proposals on the table should address the problem by open up the economy to absorb more people.
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