As South Africa faces the challenge of youth unemployment, many organizations such as the country’s National Youth Development Agency seek to place young people in jobs to combat this.
At the South African National Youth Development Agency’s Committee meeting the board of the agency outlined goals for the current financial year including plans to tackle youth unemployment.
According to Stats SA, the youth unemployment rate for those aged between 15 and 24 in the country is currently at 63.9% and for those aged between 25 and 34 the unemployment rate is at 42.1%.
Although the graduate unemployment rates are significantly lower, the figures show that a university degree does not guarantee a job. The unemployment rate among graduates aged 15-24 was close to 33%, and among those between 25 and 34 years, just more than 22% in the first quarter of 2023.
The NYDA plans to place 10 000 young people in jobs and plan to increase the number of young people empowered with skills to enter the job market from 50 000 in the previous financial year to 75 000 this year.
2 000 youth-owned enterprises will also receive mentorship and an allocation of an average amount of R40 000 of the R80 million budget allocated for grants to youth-owned enterprises. The NYDA hopes this will create around 6 200 jobs.
According to the NYDA board, the agency is currently financially strained with its budget decreasing from R974.5 million in the 2021/22 financial year to R757.1 million this financial year, however, it was confident that it would be able to achieve all of its goals.
The youth are concerned about the issues they have been facing such as unemployment, poverty, and inequality which have been worsened by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, despite these challenges the Board says they are committed to ensuring that they work hard to change the circumstances of the youth.