The Youth Employment Service (YES) has reached an amazing milestone — Over 100 000 jobs have been created for young and mostly disadvantaged South Africans in the private sector!
South Africa (29 March, 2023) — The Youth Employment Service (YES) is celebrating, and South Africans should too. Recently, YES shared that 100 000 young South Africans have been deployed into the private sector in the last four years, changing the course of opportunities for disadvantaged people, for the better.
“We haven’t just created 100 000 jobs. We’ve given young people the skills, work experience, and social networks they need to contribute to the economy for the next 40 years and beyond. It is these future professionals, entrepreneurs and change-makers who will drive our economic prosperity in the years to come,” —YES CEO, Ravi Naidoo.
To achieve goals like this, YES works with businesses to place or sponsor unemployed youth in 12-month quality work experiences that are fully funded by the private sector. This gives them the critical experience and skills they need for better future employment opportunities.
In the process, this initiative has seen R6 billion in salaries injected into local economies across the country.
Why The 100 000 Mark Matters
The unemployment rate in South Africa is still startling. And, the low rates of economic growth in our country mean that SA isn’t producing the volume or the type of jobs necessary to reverse the trend.
Currently, more than 400 000 new job seekers enter the market every year, but the country has only created an average of 150 000 net jobs per year over the past 10 years.
As Naidoo shares:
“The fact that 2 out of 3 youth are currently unemployed keeps us awake at night. It must do the same for all of South Africa, especially corporates.”
“What we need are jobs and initiatives that have a multiplier effect down the line. We must find ways to turn one job into ten, or more.”
The Good Numbers from YES
With 61% of YES Youth coming from social grant-recipient households and 77% with dependents, their incomes benefit entire families and even communities. These youth also work in industries and roles that build their local villages, towns, and economies.
Research shows that 40% of YES alumni are currently employed, and 15% are involved in entrepreneurial activity which is much higher than the national average. Many of these employees are already working on game-changing initiatives, like 25-year-old Chulumanco Lonwabo Nomtyala, a Microsoft YES Alumni who has designed Soft 4IR Apps set to help people easily apply for housing subsidies.
The fact that many of the YES jobs are being created in future-facing industries such as tech/ICT, tourism, creative, coding, renewables, and finance, simply add to the multiplier effect.
These are industries that piggy-back on the world’s inexorable move towards digitisation and technology: people working in business process outsourcing (BPO) centres, for example, or becoming drone pilots, in green energy and developers,” —Ravi Naidoo.
One Paves a Path for Many
“If each of those 10% [of alumni] go on to become successful professionals or entrepreneurs, then we’re looking at a massive job and economic impact being brought into the system indirectly through the YES programme.
“If we’re going to move the dial on unemployment in our lifetime, we must focus less on low-impact and temporary jobs and look to create the next 100 000 young game-changers in the economy. We should be putting hope in the eyes of our youth, not despair.” – Ravi Naidoo.
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