Young jobseekers are the big winners in the budget, in which an extra R7.4bn has been added to the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) Programme in 2024/25.
The programme was launched in 2020 to provide young people with temporary jobs and improve services. SA has an extremely high unemployment rate, which is particularly acute among the youth.
Stats SA’s latest jobs figures, released on Tuesday, show the youth unemployment rate stood at 44.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with the overall unemployment figure of 32.1%.
The PES programme has so far assisted more than 1.7-million people with jobs, income support and training, most of them teacher assistants hired through the basic education employment initiative programme run by provinces.
It was found in a recent study commissioned by the presidency that the main beneficiaries of this programme were teachers assistants and learners, but the local economy also benefited from the increased spending power of the young people who had jobs. Separate research on early grade literacy found teacher assistants who were provided with basic training and reading materials could significantly improve young children’s reading skills.
The Treasury said about R4bn would be made available in 2024/25 to hire more teacher assistants, R1.1bn would be reprioritised towards the social employment fund administered by the Industrial Development Corporation to promote work in local communities, and R750m would be redirected to the Food Security and Livelihoods Programme, which provides subsistence farmers with vouchers to purchase agricultural inputs.
The Cities Public Employment Programme will receive R650m for upgrading townships and informal settlements, while the National Youth Service and National Pathway Management Network will each receive R250m for their work to help unemployed people find jobs.
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