President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged South African employers to take a chance on young people and hire them not for their job experience, but for their potential, and the government is ready to assist them. In turn, he promised the government would use the employment tax incentive (ETI) for bosses to help provide the “first job” to young people.
The ETI is a government programme designed to reduce the cost of hiring and training workers by allowing eligible employers to deduct specific amounts from their monthly payroll taxes.
The tax concession is aimed at easing the employment burden on businesses and primarily targets inexperienced or young job seekers to stimulate job creation.
Directly addressing employers, business owners, managers and others with the power to hire at a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Soweto ’76 uprising, in Johannesburg, yesterday, Ramaphosa said: “I say to you: ‘Government will not ask you to carry that risk alone.’”
High unemployment
The president lamented the high unemployment rate of young South Africans, which stands at about 46%, adding that “behind every statistic is a young person who wants to work, contribute, and build a future”. “It is the graduates who send out dozens of applications but receive no response, the young entrepreneurs who have ideas but have no access to capital, and the skilled artisans who cannot find an opportunity to demonstrate their talents,” said Ramaphosa.
“We cannot accept this as normal. Young people are among the most affected by violent crime and theft. “These are some of the greatest threats to our country’s prosperity and social stability.” The root cause of people’s frustrations lies primarily in inequality, slow economic growth and weaknesses in service delivery. Alluding to the outbreak of violence over undocumented migrants, Ramaphosa said these challenges required practical solutions, not the scapegoating of vulnerable people.
The challenges facing the young are grave and their concerns are real and this is why “our response to these challenges must be comprehensive and urgent”, the president said. Ramaphosa added the government is expanding public employment, youth service and workplace experience.
Government initiative
More than 5.7 million young people are now registered on the SA Youth.mobi platform. Of these, more than two million have gained access to earning opportunities. Also, the Presidential Employment Stimulus has created work and livelihood opportunities for more than 2.5 million unemployed South Africans. Of these, 82% are young people and 66% women. Also, government was strengthening Tvet colleges to emphasise occupational skills and linking colleges, employers and Sector Education and Training Authorities to the local economic needs. “Skills are not formed in classrooms alone. They are formed in workplaces, industries, communities and enterprises. “Third, we are opening the productive economy to young people,” Ramaphosa said. He reiterated his State of the Nation Address that, over the next three years, the state will invest R1 trillion in infrastructure, which could include building and maintaining roads, dams, schools, hospitals, clinics, energy, railway lines and port infrastructure. The investment will create apprenticeships, artisan development, skills transfer and enterprise development for the young. Sectors being deliberately targeted as a growth strategy and to create jobs include manufacturing, mining beneficiation, digital infrastructure, agriculture, green industrialisation, energy, logistics, critical minerals, tourism and the creative economy. “Young people must be an integral part of these industries. “They must be trained for these industries, work in them, build businesses in them and own a part of them,” Ramaphosa added.
