The chemical industries training authority has launched an ambitious pilot programme to reskill retrenched workers, help them find new jobs or assist in starting small businesses in a bid to combat the unemployment crisis.
There are almost 8-million unemployed people in the country, putting the official jobless rate at 32.6%. It is rising quickly as power cuts, declining business confidence and slow economic growth have resulted in some companies retrenching workers to stay afloat.
Analysts, economists and politicians warn that the joblessness rate in SA — among the highest in the world — could lead to a repeat of the July 2021 unrest if left unchecked.
Power interruptions, declining business confidence and slow economic growth have resulted in some companies retrenching workers to stay afloat. The government has introduced several initiatives aimed at tackling unemployment, including launching the Jobs Fund in 2011, while Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi launched the Nasi Ispani campaign in June to try to address the crisis in SA’s economic and financial hub.
In an interview with Business Day, Yershen Pillay, CEO of the Chemical Industries Education & Training Authority (Chieta), said the Seta set aside R5m to help retrenched workers with skills to find new job opportunities or start small businesses.
Chieta is a statutory body established by the Skills Development Act 97 of 1998.
“We are planning to support about 330 retrenched workers for this year. This is a new programme. It’s not something that’s been done before. We want to collaborate with other funding partners to scale this pilot project,” said Pillay, former chair of the National Youth Development Agency.
The chemical and manufacturing sector employs about 167,000 people. Pillay said the industry has since retrenched about 2,500 workers.
Chieta’s aim is to facilitate skills development as well as ensure skills needs are identified and addressed through various training initiatives in the chemical and manufacturing industries.
Chieta obtained an unqualified audit opinion for the year to end-March 2022, according to its annual report. In that period, employee costs amounted to R51m, down from the previous year’s R62m. Altogether R470m was spent on grants and projects, and R343m went to discretionary grant expenditure.
Pillay said Chieta trained nearly 3,000 artisans this year. It was considering working with the private sector to “close the skills gap in SA” with nearly 50,000 of those passing Grade 12 not in jobs benefiting from a skills programme.
“We want an adequately trained workforce to meet employers’ demands. Our the main issue is not to replace the Jobs Fund, but to facilitate skills that people need to find job opportunities.”
The Seta has supported about 567 start-ups and small, medium and macro enterprises across the country this year, Pillay said.
“We are very excited about this retrenched workers’ programme. This is going to be a game-changer in terms of doing things differently. Our goal is to make a big dent in youth unemployment and general joblessness through the programmes we run,” said Pillay.
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