Investment in youth crucial in new era
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THE Economist magazine branded Africa a “hopeless continent” in 2000 because of its natural and man-made calamities.
When Africa began cashing in on the commodity cycle boom, accompanied by a wave of democratic transitions, Africa was christened a “rising continent”.
But the global financial downturn dampened optimism and underlined the dangers of relying on natural commodities.
Owing to changing fortunes in the international markets, countries like Ghana and Nigeria, which are mineral-dependent, are now reduced to beggars on the doorstep of the Bretton Woods institutions since they failed to diversify. Most disconcerting, public and private sectors have made limited investments in human resources.
This is the main lesson Japan and Singapore have taught us about the short- to long-term value of human capital investment.
Investment in people is even more important in this age of the fourth industrial revolution. It refers to nanotechnology, robotics, 4D printing, biotechnology. South Africa is positioned to benefit from this industrial revolution through its demographic youth dividend.
This alludes to those under 35 who make up more than 65 percent of the population. Most of these young people have no jobs, are not in employment, education or training and constitute more than 3 million who depend on their parents.
The implications for the youth dividend turning into a youth burden are real considering the link between structural unemployment, crime, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and their marginalisation.
Other than a more pronounced championing of artisan training and marketing of vocational colleges, what can be done? South Africa has no choice but to respond directly.
Mining, agriculture and manufacturing are no longer key employment drivers in most developed societies. Services sectors are proving key to providing employment opportunities.
The nature of work in the fourth industrial revolution means finding a single job for life is becoming redundant. The job landscape requires people to not only constantly upskill, but to juggle multiple jobs.
Since most young people entering the labour market are already indebted with tertiary institutional loans, qualifying for a bond and accessing credit become difficult.
While change, in the first (textile machinery) to the third (worldwide web) industrial revolutions was measured, in the fourth change takes place in quantum leaps where new sets of skills are demanded to respond to technological changes such as cloud technology, Big Data, crowd sourcing and robotics.
Unfortunately, our country does not seem poised to take advantage of the opportunities because of its globally uncompetitive basic education system, schizophrenic policy choices, low savings rates, highly unionised teaching profession, and the lack of an implementation plan for its National Development Plan blueprint.
The fourth industrial revolution can make a major input in contributing to spurring inclusive employment, entrepreneurship and economic growth.
This revolution is not mass labour intensive since it does not require an assembly line or factory to offer job opportunities.
A person only needs a smartphone to produce and develop specialised software.
A person does not need an official engineering degree to produce a 3D product, but can rely on a homegarage to design original apps. This decentralised production process can be put together in townships and rural areas.
This has the potential of mainstreaming otherwise ignored sectors.
The potential that lies with smartphones extends far beyond their predominant usage.
A personal computer or a smartphone can be mobilised for programming of solutions. We can fix South Africa’s chronic skills shortage, and address the crises this engenders, by considering doing the following. Our basic and higher education system requires an adjustment to anticipate the demands of the fourth industrial revolution.
A 2016 World Economic Forum report titled “The Future of Jobs” estimates two jobs types will be valued in the near future: data analysts to generate patterns from the information overload we have to deal with, and flexible sales representatives to market the products from the fourth revolution. This report argues governments have to prioritise investment in the mathematical, architecture, computer subject fields.
Second, in addition to focusing on recapitalisation of artisan colleges, what is needed is aligning the country’s developmental and transformation priorities, as in the NDP, along with market demands.
Pundits reckon there are more than 850 000 vacancies in the market.
One can look no further than the case study of the municipality of Fetakgomo in Limpopo, which houses several mining companies, while most graduates sit at home without relevant skills.
For all the talk of #FeesMustFall at universities, there were no protests at vocational colleges.
Third, to build what the WEF report calls “a workforce with future-proof skills”, social compacts will have to be prioritised between government and the private sector said to be sitting on cash reserves amounting to billions.
The government does not produce sustainable jobs that contribute to the economy. It only produces a highly indebted middle class struggling not to fall into the ranks of the poor. What it can do is provide the legislation for product development and support of IT incubators such as the “Please Call Me” inventor’s.
Fourth, there are models South Africa can follow, such as those of Singapore and Germany, whose economies are anchored in on-thejob-training which can be accessed through skills or technology transfer. Rwanda and Kenya offer lessons on how the knowledge economy society can be marshalled, such as the money market product M-Pesa and the IT entrepreneur generator iHub that gave birth to 152 companies.
The fourth industrial revolution is an economic ecosystem that carries unlimited potential to galvanise dormant skills that stand to deliver quick returns for the participants, clients and society.
• Tembe and Sehume are researchers at, respectively, the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute and the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.