Engineering News reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that government would continue to champion programmes and initiatives that limited the impact of unemployment on young people until such time as the private sector started creating more jobs at scale.
One of these initiatives is the Social Employment Fund, launched through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which will create 50,000 new work opportunities in its first phase. Eighty-four per cent of participants in the programmes are youth and 62% are women. The Social Employment Fund will partner with non-governmental organisations to kick start a new approach to public employment in areas that include community safety, food kitchens, urban agriculture, early childhood development and gender-based violence. Ramaphosa said social employment saw people in communities as valuable resources for development. “We have many real problems to address – from improving waste collection to creating safe and beautiful public spaces – that require work, and many people who are eager to do it. Not only does social employment provide an income for participants by supporting locally-driven initiatives to fulfil local needs; social employment can also unlock creativity and agency, build local participation and strengthen mutual support systems in communities,” he stated. Meanwhile, the National Youth Service programme will create another 50 000 jobs for unemployed youth.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
- Read too, Maimane takes dig at Ramaphosa over jobs for youth promises, at The Mercury
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page