South Africa’s massive unemployment rate under its youth is currently estimated at around 52% and the percentage of youth absorbed into the formal economy is a mere 12.2%, justifying South Africans’ concerns about the matter. Although job creation is a global challenge, the low skills and education levels of the unemployed in South Africa undoubtedly exacerbates this predicament.
Job creation initiatives During the recent Job Summit, initiatives and agreements reached between government and large organisations promise the creation of an additional 275,000 jobs per annum over the coming years. “Youth employment interventions worldwide have shown to have a positive impact on labour market outcomes,” says Dr Karina de Bruin, Managing Director at JvR Academy and counselling psychologist. She says skills development, the promotion of entrepreneurship, subsidised employment programmes, and youth employment services greatly assist in achieving this positive impact. “These may however not lead to immediate positive effects on labour market outcomes. Investments in human capital take time to bear fruit.” Job destroyers The quality of education instilled in the individual is often questionable. De Bruin says instead of taking responsibility for their own upskilling and finding a job, individuals often look around them and lose hope when they see so many other unemployed and in the same dire situation they find themselves in. “At their immediate environment or social level, there is often a lack of successful role models and negative influences by family members and peers.” She adds that at the broader societal and political level, factors such as socio-economic status, state capture and corruption lead to lower levels of trust and scepticism from investors in the SA economy. The result is an economy that is being deprived of meaningful investment in its human capital – education and skills development. Author of “South Africa Can Work” and labour lawyer Frans Rautenbach writes in an article that regulation and labour legislation increase the cost of labour. “So employers buy less of it”. The role of legislation De Bruin says labour market legislations are necessary to address inequalities, protect temporary workers and improve working conditions. However, they sometimes create barriers for entry into the job market. “Worldwide, research has indicated that when government intervenes in the workplace, it does not necessarily decrease inequalities and it often leads to an increase in unemployment.” She adds that employers generally do not respond very positively when governments are too prescriptive in terms of how they should do business. “Employers often choose to downscale on temporary employees rather than offering them permanent employment. Or they choose to outsource some of their activities rather than employing people full time.” The need for job security, minimum wage laws and other conditions of employment often prevent people on the lower levels of the spectrum, from finding employment. Especially the non-skilled worker is missing out on opportunities to earn a wage (even if they are willing to offer their services at a much lower wage than prescribed), says De Bruin. They are deprived of the opportunity to show how they can make a valuable contribution to the workplace. When appointed on a temporary basis, employers have the chance to observe their potential, which may lead to longer term and better employment prospects. At the least, they would have proven their willingness to work, reflecting on a positive attitude – a quality equally important than technical skills and experience. “Even opportunities to be involved in temporary or low paying jobs, provide a chance to gain work experience – exactly what employers are looking for in prospective employees.” The differentiators The success of employment intervention programmes largely depends on how they are designed and implemented. De Bruin says it is critical to ensure alignment between individual strengths and the type of work environment where an individual applies these strengths. It is also imperative that efficient mentoring and monitoring occur. “The intensity and scale of the skills development programmes contribute to the success of these programmes.” De Bruin notes that too often these programmes merely provide the youth with a once-off development opportunity with limited impact. “These programmes are a waste of time and money, but the numbers often satisfy the sponsors.” Her advice: “Rather focus on longer term skills programmes, including technical skills and workplace soft skills, where participants are mentored, monitored and the learning gets cemented by means of continuous learning touch points.” Work readiness programmes, particularly, could be integrated in the school curriculum and should rather be a continuous exposure to the development of skills needed to enter and remain in the workplace. It is also important to instil a greater appreciation and recognition for trades qualifications. Certainly, in our current economic climate, Matric or a higher education qualification is not the only ticket into the job market. END MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za ABOUT JvR Africa Group: JvR Africa Group of companies consists of JvR Psychometrics, JvR Consulting Psychologists, JvR Academy, and JvR Safety. With its head office situated in Johannesburg, the group conducts business nationally and across Sub-Saharan Africa. They collaborate with test developers, consultants and academic institutions all over the world and support a range of development opportunities. The JvR Africa Group proudly hosts events around People Development in Africa, a cause they feel is extremely important to the future of our continent. For more information on JvR Africa Group please visit: Website: https://jvrafricagroup.co.za/ LinkedIn: JvR Africa Group Facebook: The JvR Africa Group - People Development in Africa Twitter: JvR Africa Grou
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South Africa will be celebrating its annual Youth Day on Saturday, with the theme for June: “Live the Legacy: Towards a socio-economically empowered youth.”
Millions of South African youths have however, very little to celebrate. According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) approximately 3.3million of the 10.3million young people aged between 14-24 years were not in employment, education or training in the first quarter of 2018. This implies that close to one in three young South Africans in this age group were disengaged with the labour market. More than 10% of the graduates aged between 25–34 years could not find a job, despite their education. The burden of unemployment is also concentrated amongst the youth as they account for 63,5% of the total number of unemployed persons. Lack of employability skills Dr Karina de Bruin, JvR Academy Managing Director, says these results are a “sad reality”, despite efforts over the years to improve the plight of South Africa’s future generations. “The education system focuses on subject and functional competencies. And that should indeed be the case,” she says. “One should be able to read, write, calculate, understand history, geography and science. All these subjects contribute to potential career and personal development.” However, a crucial element of career and personal development is employability and the skills that makes one employable. The employability skills listed by employers include: problem solving, initiative and self-motivation, coping with pressure, team work, ability to learn and adapt, valuing diversity and negotiating skills. “The education system is lacking when it comes to this aspect of employability. We should also not forget that the individual is as important in determining employability.” Responsibility for one’s own development De Bruin refers to a Malaysian study which demonstrates that “self-concept, participation in career development activities, and industrial training” play the biggest role in terms of the acquisition of employability skills. The first two elements are solely related to the individual. She says another aspect that should be added is self-directedness: taking responsibility for one's own development. Young people need to look for opportunities to develop their workplace and functional skills, but also to obtain behavioural competencies that will contribute to finding and keeping a job. “Employability skills are often overlooked when attempts are made to make the youth economically active.” Many people have become involved in youth initiatives, simply because it seems to be the right thing to do. There is a lot of talking, just to advance their own careers. “If we look at the huge numbers of young people who go untouched by many of the youth bodies, it is indeed unsettling,” De Bruin remarks. Small steps for future change “My philosophy in terms of people development has always been that you only need to touch one or two people... They go back to their communities and make a difference in the lives of those around them as well.” De Bruin believes simple and small changes is achievable to have meaningful long-term effects. One step is to infuse the education curriculum with employability skills development, another is to enhance communication channels between important role players so that everybody starts putting words into action. ENDS MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za ABOUT JvR Africa Group: JvR Africa Group of companies consists of JvR Psychometrics, JvR Consulting Psychologists, JvR Academy, and JvR Safety. With it’s head office is situated in Johannesburg; the group conducts business nationally and across Sub-Saharan Africa. They work with test developers, consultants and academic institutions all over the world and supports a range of development opportunities and hosts events around People Development in Africa, a cause they feel is extremely important to the future of our continent. For more information on JvR Africa Group please visit: Website: https://jvrafricagroup.co.za/ LinkedIn: JvR Africa Group Facebook: The JvR Africa Group - People Development in Africa Twitter: JvR Africa Group YouTube: The JvR Africa Group |
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