SABC News reports that according to former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, government has not put enough emphasis on policy development to tackle youth unemployment.  

He was speaking at the launch of a series of reports on tackling youth unemployment on Wednesday.  Jonas also said the education system needed to be fixed in order to achieve economic growth and sustainable job creation.  He stated:  We've got to respond to the crisis.  We are not responding.  You can't build an economy or create jobs for labour market that you don't have.  You've got create something that responds to the crisis.  I think industrial policy can play at both levels.  The problem we have now is that we have fewer instruments to support labour intensive sector.”  The unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 34 increased from 32.7% to 36.1% between 2008 and 2014.

• This short report by Ditaba Tsotetsi is at SABC News
• Read too, CDE: Millions of unemployed youths need sweeping structural transformation, at BusinessLive
• And also, SA youth urged by Nelson Mandela Foundation to be proactive in job creation, at SABC News

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page