Notwithstanding countless initiatives, SA’s youth are caught in the crosshairs of a failing education system and increasing unemployment.
Commenting on the first-quarter labour force survey released in late May, former Statistician-General Pali Lehohla pointed out that “the share of employment for the youth aged 15-34 proportionately and in absolute terms has been gutted in favour of their parents”. He captured the tragedy of our situation in his inimitable way, writing: “The mother cat is devouring the kittens.”
Even during his tenure, Lehola made the point that our education system is failing not just the youth, but the entire nation. In 2016, he argued that the current generation of youth was underperforming relative to their parents in education and employment outcomes.
The problems in our education system have worsened during Covid-19, affecting even early childhood development (ECD). The fourth survey by the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) shows that 43% of respondents who had children in pre-pandemic ECD institutions had not attended school because their centres were temporarily closed.
The survey released on Monday into how tertiary education has been affected by Covid-19 paints a grim picture of little or no classes being conducted, even online, especially among students attending Technical and Vocational Education and Training. The survey records prolonged periods of food insecurity because students had to add to the burdens of their already impoverished households.
There is no silver bullet which addresses the challenges of unemployment and the failing education system that is the lot of SA’s youth. It’s going to be a long haul, but programmes to prepare young people for employment and efforts to help entrepreneurship take root can have a major impact.
SA has seen myriad youth employment accelerators, which focus on the 3-million young people seeking work by aiming to deliver 1-million jobs, work experiences, and income opportunities.
The University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Social Development in Africa research concludes that just 28% of those who had come through such programmes had found jobs. But, in the same breath, they point out that given the state of our economy, it was incorrect to measure their success simply in terms of job placement.
Their review of 113 international such initiatives has found that multi-dimensional programmes providing more comprehensive support to youth have a greater impact than those offering only training. Such programmes keep the young connected to opportunities, reducing social exclusion and social drift, and avoiding negative mental health consequences.
The one intervention that the government, business and civil society can coalesce around is that of encouraging the poorly educated and the unemployed to get into entrepreneurial activities.
The National Development Plan envisioned that by 2030 SMMEs will contribute 605-80% of GDP growth and generate 90% of the 11-million new jobs.
Compared to the global averages, where 80%-90% of total employment comes from businesses of fewer than 10 people, we have a long way to go where the SMME sector employs just 28% of the total workforce. This is despite numerous laws, the establishment of various agencies, and the launching of dozens of initiatives to support SMMEs.
Entrepreneurial intention is an attribute that all of society should be fostering, especially among the youth. It is defined as a combination of psychological attitudes, including the taking of risk. SA has been languishing at the bottom of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for this attribute.
One of the ways in which the government can help is by encouraging and protecting the informal economy which, according to Kate Philip of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative, already contributes to jobs, incomes and livelihoods for about 2.5-million workers and business owners. She points out that 28% of these businesses are run by young people.
Ensuring entrepreneurial intention takes root in SA also requires a shift in mindset of the private sector. With financial institutions that are notoriously risk averse, and large corporates, especially in the retail sector, wanting to vertically integrate supply chains, often to the detriment of the smaller producers, there is very little incentive for the creation of SMMEs.
Combining entrepreneurial intention and youth preparedness programmes can ensure the transmission belt from youth employment to businesses is more seamless and less strewn with obstacles.
• Abba Omar is Director Operations at Mapungubwe Institute
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