An unemployment emergency

● SA’s unemployment figures surged to their worst levels on record in the third quarter of 2021. Gauteng has not been immune from the rise in unemployment, losing around 200 000 jobs between the second and third quarter of last year. When it comes to youth unemployment, the situation is even more dire with estimations that two-thirds of young people – classified as those between the ages of 15 and 35 – are unemployed.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura points out that a deep and complex set of challenges underpin the unemployment crisis. Speaking at the recent State of the Province Address, he said that addressing the challenge of unemployment would be one of the provincial government’s top priorities. In a bid to bridge to gap between this high rate of youth unemployment and job opportunities, the Gauteng Provincial Government established the Tshepo 1 Million programme.

Initially launched in 2014 as the Tshepo 500 000, the first iteration of the programme was, with hindsight, too fragmented and not sufficiently systematic, concedes Makhura.

The province therefore partnered with the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator from 2017 to upscale the programme and provide a more integrated approach. It has also aligned with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative.

The latter is a joint initiative by the private sector and government which provides paid work experiences to the youth. The Tshepo 1 Million programme has since evolved to become Gauteng’s flagship youth empowerment initiative. Focused on demand-driven learning and entrepreneurship knowledge, the programme is specifically designed to assist one million young people enter the labour market with the necessary skills. In the past five years more than 102 000 youth participating in the programme have been provided with job opportunities.

At the recent State of the Province Address, Makhura announced that the Tshepo 1 Million programme is being repackages into an even “bigger and wider youth development intervention that brings all youth civil initiatives into youth developmental focal point”.

Maintaining that young people are critical to helping government respond to the current youth unemployment emergency, the premier said he would be appointing a civil society-led youth advisory panel in preparation for the new phase of a rebooted Tshepo programme.

The panel will be supported by the Youth Directorate in the Office of the Premier.Gauteng is making a specific effort to create work opportunities for the youth. Since 2019, said Makhura, the provincial government has created more than 48 000 youth work opportunities while municipalities in the province have created more than 30 000 youth work opportunities. Other initiatives have combined to create more than 23 000 jobs aimed at the youth.

The province’s efforts at job creation are not restricted to the youth, however. In total, reported Makhura, the province has created more than 93 000 work opportunities while municipalities have created more than 55 000 work opportunities.