BL Premium reports that the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020 to combat youth unemployment, could be terminated if the R5bn required to keep it going beyond March next year is not secured.
The programme, which has so far helped over 1-million young people secure temporary employment, needed additional funding to scale up its efforts and to ensure its continuity, deputy minister in the presidency Kenny Morolong advised. More than 4-million young people who are not in any higher education training or employment have signed up for the programme. “We will require over R5bn over the medium term which means over the next three years to have it fully funded,” Morolong indicated on Monday. The PYEI includes programmes such as the Presidential Employment Stimulus, the revitalised National Youth Service and private sector efforts such as the Youth Employment Service. The National Treasury’s budget projections for the next three years do not make provision for continuation of the programme. Termination of the programme would jeopardise the government’s stated objective of reducing the high rate of youth unemployment. According to Stats SA, youth unemployment came in at 60.7% in the second quarter of this year and at 70.1% when using the expanded definition.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thando Maeko at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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