Various interventions set in motion as SA tries to mitigate unemployment
Government has to directly alleviate the impact of joblessness through social protection measures and demand-led training
I believe we can all agree that, at the end of the day, a decisive reduction in the unacceptably high level of unemployment is dependent on higher economic growth resulting in more jobs.
This process is led by business investing in the private sector with resultant economic development and rising employment.
As President Cyril Ramaphosa has argued, the government as the largest employer in the country and a large-scale procurer of goods and services, has a major role to play – both to create an environment conducive to investment, growth and development.
It also has to directly mitigate the impact of unemployment through social protection measures, demand-led training, targeted job-creation and preservation.
To this end, the government has strived to strengthen and expand its programmes for skills development and job creation, particularly in respect of the youth, seeking to mobilise and coordinate resources across the government.
In so doing, the government has also sought to deepen and increase the areas of cooperation with the private sector. Initially focused on the strategic areas of energy security, port and inland logistics, and crime and corruption, cooperation has been expanded to include issues of skills and employment.
Which brings us to the expanded roll-out of government jobs and skills projects. First, I need to flag that this orientation and vision has a very long pedigree. Indeed, it is captured in the National Development Plan 2030 adopted in 2011. The earlier example of the Expanded Public Works Programme has been in existence for over two decades and is utilised by local governments of all political persuasions.
So the present roll-out of UIF Labour Activation Programmes (LAP) which started on April 6 in Gauteng – in tandem with provincial Nasi iSpani project – is part of this long tradition, expanded now to pool resources across departments and provinces and in partnership with the private sector.
The labour department has long been involved in skills training of the unemployed.
One of the things we did after the 2019 elections was to re-orientate training towards in-demand and scarce skills with the guarantee of a job at the end of the programme.
Another critical part was to undertake a structural architecture review of the funds – the UIF and Compensation Fund – carried out by an independent analyst, and with the express purpose of greatly strengthening client service and ensuring necessary financial controls, systems, governance, accountability, risk and compliance mechanisms are in place.
The decision of the government to “massify skills development and job creation” in response to persistent high levels of unemployment and sluggish growth utilises the LAP platform – expanded to pool resources across departments and entities, and to partner with the private sector.
Currently, 333 projects have been recommended for implementation across every province. Some 55,000 opportunities were announced for Gauteng on April 6 with the launch of the Nasi iSpani project, supported and jointly funded by the LAP across 24 sectors – agriculture, services, IT, construction, engineering, wholesale and retail, safety and security, hospitality, social services, textile, transport, furniture manufacturing; education, energy, food and beverage, health and wellness, aviation, insurance, jewellery, hygiene, arts and culture, and financial sector.
Labour activation programmes are not a silver bullet to end the challenge of unemployment, but they are a viable force-multiplier that can be used together with other initiatives and interventions as part of a response to mitigate unemployment.
The official national launch of the expanded LAP programme takes place in KZN on April 16.