Sunday World reports that the SA government spends R54-billion every year on labour market interventions, but the money is not producing the big changes needed to fight youth unemployment.

This was revealed by the director in the Presidency responsible for the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), Tshegofatso Walker, on Thursday. Walker explained that the R54-billion covered skills training, labour market programmes, support for small businesses, and public employment projects.

The funds are shared among all departments, but according to Walker, the spending is not well coordinated. “The R54-billion is a strength, not a weakness. The challenge is the utilisation of that R54-billion. These programmes often operate in isolation. Each department does their own thing, often in competition with each other. The programmes are not mutually reinforcing. There is not even a strategy at an overarching level for all of these programmes and all of this funding,” Walker pointed out. She also said some programmes were not working and urged the government to be honest and brave about reorienting money towards initiatives that were more efficient.

Walker advised a new youth employment strategy for the seventh administration had been finalised, focusing on aligning and strengthening interventions across the departments.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Boitumelo Kgobotlo at Sunday World

Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page