Deputy President Paul Mashatile says more needs to be done to address the “youth unemployment ticking time bomb”.
“The challenge is not a lack of programmes, it is the effectiveness, acceleration and massification of our programmes,” he said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch of the SA national human development report 2022 in Pretoria, Mashatile thanked the UN Development Programme for shining light on the government's blind spots.
He agreed with the UNDP's sentiments that “there is no doubt that the high unemployment rate is a ticking time bomb”.
Earlier, the UN's resident co-ordinator in South Africa, Nelson Muffuh, painted a grim picture of the high unemployment plaguing the population, especially the youth.
To undress unemployment, Mashatile said, the government was pursuing several youth empowerment programmes, including the Youth Employment Service Programme launched in 2018.
“A collaborative effort among government, business and labour, the programme has placed more than 100,000 young people in employment.”
Youth unemployment 'is a ticking time bomb,' says Paul Mashatile
Presidency reporter
Image: GCIS.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile says more needs to be done to address the “youth unemployment ticking time bomb”.
“The challenge is not a lack of programmes, it is the effectiveness, acceleration and massification of our programmes,” he said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch of the SA national human development report 2022 in Pretoria, Mashatile thanked the UN Development Programme for shining light on the government's blind spots.
He agreed with the UNDP's sentiments that “there is no doubt that the high unemployment rate is a ticking time bomb”.
Earlier, the UN's resident co-ordinator in South Africa, Nelson Muffuh, painted a grim picture of the high unemployment plaguing the population, especially the youth.
To undress unemployment, Mashatile said, the government was pursuing several youth empowerment programmes, including the Youth Employment Service Programme launched in 2018.
“A collaborative effort among government, business and labour, the programme has placed more than 100,000 young people in employment.”
As part of the programme, Mashatile said, the government had also launched the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI).
“Since 2020, the initiative has made significant progress in addressing the difficulty of transitioning youth from learning to earning. Despite its short three year existence, more than 4-million youths have joined the network.”
He said the government had also launched the public service graduate internship and learnership programme to give young people work experience. Another initiative was the National Rural Youth Service Corps.
“The report we are launching found that those without a matric qualification make up a significant proportion of the youth unemployment rate at about 40%, in contrast with only 13% of graduates who are unemployed.”
Mashatile said the government is trying to understand the factors that lead to school dropouts. He said he would study the report with the aim of finding ways to empower young people.
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