Introduction section one 6

Bottlenecks related to self employment

Finally, in looking at where young people who are employed find work, it was found that approximately 80% of employed young people are employees (that is wage earners) and work in formal sector jobs in the private sector (Rankin et al, 2012). Thus conversely it was found that very few young people pursued self-employment as an option.

The limited numbers of young people seeking self-employment is confirmed by other data, which shows that in 2010 there were 1.1% young people classified as self-employed, as compared with 8.8% in the 35-65 year age group (ibid). This low level of participation in self-employment is explained in multiple ways: young people lack the savings and start-up capital and it is hard for young people to access finance without any backing and with no employment track record. Further, they lack the experience and skills gained through work experience and often do not feel confident to attempt a business on their own. In addition research suggests that a young person, entering the labour market, might need to earn an income from early on, yet most start-up businesses take a while before they start to generate profit. Young people also indicate that they would prefer the guarantee of a regular income as compared to the uncertainty related to a new business venture that may initially require sacrifice in terms of income, particularly in the early phases (Rankin et al 2012).
These factors are reinforced by the World Bank Study,¹³ cited previously, which concludes that the key obstacles to self-employment is that young people lack the money, know-how, and social networks that are the bases for successful small firm start-up and survival.

Bottlenecks related to social factors

In addition to the above-mentioned obstacles to young people accessing the labour market, research also points to the multiplicity of social factors relating to youth that also impact on the ways in which they engage with the labour market. Critically this relates to substance abuse and the related issues pertaining to sexual and reproductive health. These factors are summarised in the diagram below developed by the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation.

2. Current legal framework regarding employment creation

The previous sections have highlighted the challenges and obstacles pertaining to youth unemployment. Government, often working with the social partners, has put in place policies to support growth and employment creation that frame a number of initiatives. These either directly speak to, or include provisions for, supporting youth to effectively transition into the labour market. These initiatives include the five Accords, such as the Youth Accord; the Industry Charters and the BBBEE Code; other legislation such as that relating to employment equity and skills development, as well as broader labour legislation; and specific programmes such as the Jobs Fund.

Overarching strategies & plans

The National Development Plan

Cabinet Lekgotla adopted the revised NDP 2030, entitled “Our future-make it work”, on 6th September 2012. The NDP aims to ensure that all South Africans attain a decent standard of living through the elimination of poverty and reduction of inequality. The core elements of a decent standard of living identified in the Plan are described as: housing, water, electricity and sanitation; safe and reliable public transport; quality education and skills development; safety and security; quality health care; social protection; employment; recreation and leisure; clean environment and adequate nutrition.
With respect to youth, the National Development Plan states that many developing economies are experiencing a “youth bulge” and indicates that a large economically active population can contribute to falling poverty rates, though it indicates that much depends on whether this population is activated. The Plan suggests that these changes in demography, particularly the increase in the numbers of people in the working-age cohort, can be a dividend or a burden.
The NDP highlights a number of areas in which there is a need for interventions that specifically target youth: for example, one of the key proposals that they make relates to the need to break the disincentive to hiring young, unskilled work seekers by incentivising the employment of young, unskilled work seekers. They further indicate that there is a need to support small business development and specifically that training should be provided for school leavers and unemployed youth. The NDP also states that the public sector should establish programmes run by well-trained ex-entrepreneurs who have first-hand experience of the sector; the government should incentivise the private sector through tax breaks to set up mentoring programmes; established small enterprises should be offered wage subsidies to take on apprentices and to offer youth placements. The NDP also states that there is a need to provide skills development for students currently in school with a focus on grooming an entrepreneurial attitude. This should include reviewing the curriculum with a view to encouraging entrepreneurial thinking and creating the skills necessary for start-ups. They propose that the review should consider focusing education into technical and academic streams after grade 8, and establishing vocational and technical training for students in grades 9 and 11.
A process has been put in place to explore the implications of the NDP for the medium term in a manner that ensures that there is a focus on key priorities. This is given expression in the revised Medium-Term Strategic Framework.

The Medium-Term Strategic Framework

As indicated above, the MTSF has beenrevised taking into account the NDP and the learning from the outcomes. The MTSF represents an integrated strategic plan for the medium term and provides an overarching plan that incorporates the 12 outcomes (discussed below).
The MTSF states that investment in quality education, as well as in skills development should form the bedrock of the government’s approach to addressing the challenges of the youth. It also emphaises that to eliminate structural unemployment will depend to a large extent on the progress made in growing the economy in an equitable manner, underpinned by a growing skills base. The MTSF suggests that in turn, progress in these social areas will contribute to economic growth.

12 Outcomes

The 12 Outcomes outline the key changes that are required in order to achieve defined outputs. Of particular import for this programme are the outcomes that relate to the economy (Outcome 4: Decent employment for inclusive growth) highlights the strategies that government will utilise to support employment creation. Further, the outcome that focuses on skills development (Outcome 5: A skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path) indicates the targets to be achieved.

New Growth Path

A key output of Outcome 4 was the development of the New Growth Path (NGP). The NGP sets out the key drivers of growth and specifically jobs in the short to medium-term. It indicates that over the short to medium term, it (the state) can support labour absorbing activities, especially in the agricultural value-chain, light manufacturing and services, cost-effective infrastructure. In the longer run, increasingly support knowledge- and capital-intensive sectors. A summary of these key drivers and related jobs are as follows (taken from the NGP):

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  Infrastructure and spatial development: Public investment can create 250 000 jobs a year in energy, transport, water and communications infrastructure and in housing, through to 2015. The jobs are in four activities: construction of new infrastructure; operation of the new facilities; expanded maintenance; and the manufacture of components for the infrastructure programme. In addition to these four activities, the impact of the massive infrastructure programme on job creation across the economy (“the multiplier effect”) will be substantial.
  
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  Agricultural value chain: The NGP targets opportunities for 300 000 households in agricultural smallholder schemes plus 145 000 jobs in agro-processing by 2020, while there is the potential to upgrade conditions for 660 000 farm-workers. Initial projections by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) suggests that mining can add 140 000 additional jobs by 2020, and 200 000 by 2030, not counting downstream and side stream effects.
  
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  Seizing the potential of new economies: technological innovation opens the opportunity for substantial employment creation. The NGP targets 300 000 additional direct jobs by 2020 to green the economy, with 80 000 in manufacturing and the rest in construction, operations and maintenance of new environmentally friendly infrastructure. The potential for job creation rises to well over 400 000 by 2030. Additional jobs will be created by expanding the existing public employment schemes to protect the environment, as well as in production of biofuels. The Government’s Integrated Resource Planning process (also known as the IRP2) targets for renewable energy open up major new opportunities for employment in manufacturing new energy technologies as well as in construction. In addition, the NGP targets 100 000 new jobs by 2020 in the knowledge-intensive sectors of ICT, higher education, healthcare, mining-related technologies, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
  
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  Investing in social capital and public services: The social economy includes myriad not-for-profit institutions that provide goods and services, including co-ops, NGOs and stokvels. If the sector grew in South Africa closer to international norms, we can anticipate 260 000 new employment opportunities. The public services can also generate 100 000 jobs in health, education and policing by 2020 as well as substantial opportunities through public employment schemes.
  
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  Spatial Development: Rural development programmes can achieve a measurable improvement in livelihoods for 500 000 households, as well as stimulating employment in other sectors. In terms of employment in South Africa, increased export to SADC alone can generate almost 60 000 direct jobs by 2015 and around 150 000 by 2020 with additional employment growth arising from South Africa's position as a financial, logistics and services hub and from collaboration around regional infrastructure and investment.
  

Strategies & Plans linked to Small Business Support

The key government institutions that provide small business support include the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa).
Seda is an agency of the South African Department of Trade and Industry (the dti). Seda indicates that its mission is to “develop, support and promote small enterprises throughout the country, ensuring their growth and sustainability in co–ordination and partnership with various role players, including global partners, who make international best practices available to local entrepreneurs”.
Seda assists individual(s) to develop their business ideas into a business plan. Applicants pay 10% of the costs of the development of the Business Plan and Seda funds the remaining 90%. Seda’s services also include mentorship and training to ensure the entrepreneur is in a position to manage his/her business. Once the Business Plan has been developed, Seda assists and supports the individual(s) registration of the business. Once individuals have a business plan for a viable business they can approach Sefa for finance (discussed in more depth below). Seda has 43 branches around the country, some of which are located next to Sefa offices to assist individuals to make the transition from the one institution to the other easier.
Aside from the services provided to individuals, the organisation has created a programme, which aims “to manage different business incubators, facilitate technology transfer and quality interventions.” This programme is known as the Seda Technology Programme (STP) and as part of this, the Agency has over the years facilitated the establishment of 42 business incubators across the country. According to Seda the incubators are structured so that they provide a more protected environment for emerging small business. Incubators are organized into different sectors¹⁴ such as IT, furniture manufacturing, agri-processing and small-scale mining. Those businesses that form part of the incubator are housed in one space where they can access the full range of Seda services such as business infrastructure, strategic guidance, financial and legal advice. The aim is to create an environment of learning and sharing information and experiences.
SEFA, which falls under the Department for Economic Development, was established on 1st April 2012 as a result of the merger of South African Micro Apex Fund, Khula Enterprise Finance Ltd and the small business activities of IDC. Sefa's website states that its mandate is “to foster the establishment, survival and growth of SMMEs and contribute towards poverty alleviation and job creation.” Sefa provides the following services:

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  Finance to SMMEs on a wholesale and direct basis
  
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  Business support services and capacity building
  
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  Creating strategic partnerships for sustainable SMME development and support
  
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  Monitoring the effectiveness and impact of finance provision and capacity development in the SMME sector
  

Sefa’s target audience is survivalist, micro, small and medium size businesses and co-operatives; special emphasis is placed on sectors such as services (retail, wholesale and tourism); agriculture; construction (small construction contractors) and mining (small miners). The range of the loans offered is as follows:

Segment	Thresholds
Survivalists and Microenterprises	R500 – R50 000
Small and Medium Enterprises	R50 000 – R5 million
Joint Ventures and Financial Institutions (Wholesale lending)	R20m – R100m

Aside from the direct loans Sefa offers, it also works in partnership with the private sector to provide additional financing. Through such partnerships Sefa has been able to support and encourage the growth of small business in a number of sectors including mining, construction and property; agriculture and panel beaters as well as a specific initiative to develop black sugar cane farmers in Mpumalanga and the Pongola region of KwaZulu Natal.

In order to apply for finance an SMME must adhere to generally accepted governance practices; comply with relevant labour laws; have a tax clearance certificate from SARS; have the ability to create new jobs as well as the desired level of development impact¹⁵. Sefa will not finance speculative real estate deals or trading, listed companies; loans to refinance existing debts; people under debt review; political or religious entities; companies involved with child labour, arms, gambling or “morally harmful” industries – tobacco, liquor, sex trade.
The one gap that was highlighted with respect to the priorities of these programmes relates to the stage before the individual is ready to develop their business plan. It is possible that Seda could expand its role and include this additional element for youth (possibly with additional resources made available to the programme through the NSF). Other opportunities to provide young people with support with respect to small business development may also be available through initiatives funded by the Jobs Fund (discussed below) as well as the SETA (also discussed below).

Strategies & Plans linked to Employment Creation

Jobs Fund

The Jobs Fund was established by government with the stated aim of leveraging the economy’s capacity for innovation and investment in the generation of sustainable employment. The objective of the Jobs Fund is to co-finance projects by public, private and non-governmental organisations that will significantly contribute to improving long term sustainable job creation.
The Jobs Fund has a number of guiding principles, which include:

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  Emphasis on sustainable jobs: sustainable in the jobs Fund language refers to a job that is created and continues beyond the tenure of the grant – in other words, it is not dependent on long-term state subsidies.
  
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  Strong emphasis on innovation and systemic impact: The Jobs Fund prioritises projects that demonstrate job creation potential combined with “doing something differently”. This might include new business or training models, production techniques, developing new products, or establishing new markets.
  
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  Matched Funding requirement: Every applicant, regardless of whether civil society, private or public sector, must put forward a matched funding contribution to the project in line with the required ratios. For public sector – this is 20 cents for every Jobs Fund rand. The source of this matched funding is closely assessed.
  

The Jobs Fund has four identified funding windows:

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  Enterprise Development
  
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    This window co-finances innovative business development projects or enterprise support programmes with the potential to create sustainable jobs. The role of the window is to lower the cost and risk barriers that inhibit innovative, private sector-led enterprise models, partnerships, ideas and projects that will directly enhance sustainable job creation.
    
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  Infrastructure
  
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    The infrastructure window involves the co-financing of critical missing infrastructure that creates trading opportunities; enhances access to markets; improves the business environment for enterprises and catalyses employment linked investment.
    
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  Support for work seekers
  
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    This window provides co-financing support to innovative initiatives and programmes that directly link active work-seekers, especially young people, to formal sector opportunities and employment placement. This window targets initiatives that develop (train, upskill, prepare) and place (in existing vacant positions or in new positions) work seekers in formal, permanent employment opportunities (identified, matched and secured).
    
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  Institutional capacity building
  
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    Funding from the institutional window aims to improve the capacity and efficiency of public institutions responsible for facilitating job placement, job creation and the functioning of the labour market. Once-off interventions/ projects that will improve operational efficiencies, remove barriers to doing business, catalyse innovation and thereby scale up the potential for job creation will be targeted.
    

A number of projects are already being supported by the Jobs Fund and it is suggested that certain of these projects, which already have funding, could partner with the UNDP and possibly support interventions identified through this process.

Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and Community Works Programme

In terms of governments’ commitment to job creation, it has supported public employment initiatives over the last ten years or so. One of its key programmes is the EPWP. Documents pertaining to the EPWP state that the programme provides an important avenue for labour absorption and income transfers to poor households in the short to medium-term. The EPWP promotes the use of government expenditure to create additional employment opportunities by introducing labour intensive delivery methods and additional employment and skills programmes for the participation of the unemployed in delivering needed services. An example is the Zibambele programme, an initiative of the KwaZulu-Natal department of transport, which contracts households to maintain rural roads by ensuring good roadside visibility, maintaining the road drainage system and road surfaces, and clearing road verges of litter.
A component of the programme is the provision of performance based incentive allocations to eligible provinces, municipalities and non-profit organisations to incentivise them to increase job creation efforts in expanded public works programmes by shifting towards more labour intensive methods of construction. The disbursement of funds to provinces, municipalities and non-governmental organisations are based on set job creation targets to ensure the creation of work opportunities in the infrastructure, environment and culture, social, and non-state sectors. Issues emerging from these policies
The Community Works Programme (CWP) is one of the programmes within the EPWP and it is implemented under the auspices of the Department of Cooperative Governance. CWP contributes to developing public assets in poor communities. It offers two days of guaranteed work to individuals in the community and in this way provides income security and work experience for participants, and promotes social and economic inclusion.
By December 2014, 159 621 participants were employed at 148 operational sites. It has been indicated that over the medium term, the CWP will provide work opportunities to 255 000 people and will grow the number of operational sites to 348. The project focuses on rural areas though it is also being implemented in urban areas.

National Rural Youth Service Corps (NARYSEC)

NARYSEC was established in September 2010. It states that its goal is to recruit and develop rural youth; and to perform community service in their own communities.

NARYSEC's specific key objectives are:

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  To recruit unemployed youth in rural areas.
  
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  To train the youth through Further Education and Training programmes linked to the identified developmental community projects in rural areas.
  
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  To develop youth with multi-disciplinary skills through civic education.
  
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  To increase the number of rural communities receiving support in their self-development through the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP).
  

The programme intends to work across rural wards. Its aims to work in all 2 920 rural wards and it is intended that the programme will lead to the employment of more than 10 000 youths. NARYSEC's recruitment process insists on 50/50 gender balance per rural ward.

Wage incentive

The wage subsidy has been legislated with the intention of reducing the cost of labour to an employer, which reduces the cost to company. This is seen as relevant as the cost of labour is perceived to be too high to attain full employment (Fedderke, 2012). The subsidy could in effect lower the labour cost, resulting in labour being a cheaper input in the production of goods and services. This in turn provides a compelling incentive to make production more labour intensive. Hence the demand for labour and employment would increase. Research by Rankin and the University of Witwatersrand show that a subsidy improves employment chances by at least 25% (Paton 2013).
The subsidy is available for a maximum of two years for new entrants: Up to 50% of learner stipends are deductible as a special subsidy. For learners paid R2,000 per month this results in a R1,000 per month tax subsidy on your PAYE. Thus far there is still a debate about the extent of the benefits of this subsidy though there is evidence that it is being utilised.

Strategies & Plans linked to Training

The Human Resource Development Strategy

The Human Resource and Development Strategy for South Africa¹⁶ outlines how the skills requirements for South Africa will be met. This is set out in eight core commitments (each with associated strategic priorities, strategic objectives, indicators and activities).
Of particular import for this programme are the interventions that relate to further education and training and skills development. Key institutions in this regard are the SETAs as well as the NSF. The former drives the skills implementation in sectors and is central to funding for training within their respective sector. The latter funds a range of skills development initiatives that enable unemployed individuals to access the skills required for the labour market.

The National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) and related skills legislation

Whilst the HRDSA outlines the broad HRD imperatives, the NSDS focuses on South Africa’s skills development priorities and provides indicators to measure progress in its implementation. These were set out in the first National Skills Development Strategy which covered the period 2001-2005 and were then revised in the second National Skills Development Strategy: 1 April 2005 – 31 March 2010. NSDS III (2011-2016) builds on NSDS II and I and is aligned with government’s strategic priorities.

NSDS III has a number of core pillars: a summary of these strategies include:

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  Sector strategies, programmes and projects (that are aligned to government and industry development strategies and that are developed with, and supported by, sector stakeholders).
  
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  Relevant sector-based programmes addressing the needs of unemployed people and first-time entrants to the labour market will be developed and piloted by SETAs, with roll out being planned, managed and funded, where appropriate, in partnership with the NSF.
  
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  Professional, vocational, technical and academic learning (PIVOTAL) programmes. These are programmes, which provide a full occupationally directed qualification. PIVOTAL courses will normally be offered by arrangement between a SETA, an educational institution, an employer and a learner.
  
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  Programmes that contribute towards the revitalisation of vocational education and training, including the competence of lecturers and trainers to provide work-relevant education and training, and promote occupationally directed research and innovation.
  
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  Incentives for training and skills development capacity in the cooperative, NGO and trade union sectors, including community and worker education initiatives, contributing to effective training of youth and adults.
  
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  Partnerships between public and private training providers, between providers and SETAs and between SETAs, addressing cross-sectoral and inter-sectoral needs.
  
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  An increased focus on skills for rural development to support government’s prioritisation of rural development.
  

The skills levy, which represents the 1% of payroll that employers are required to pay, funds the skills system. This money is allocated to SETAs and the National Skills fund to fund the NSDS as well as the Sector Skills Plans emanating from the SETAs. Of import is that it is noted though that at the point of this paper there is a discussion about the restructuring of the NSDS and the SETA landscape: this includes the manner in which the levy is allocated and can be utilised. ¹⁷ The conclusions of these discussions will have implications for the above and in particular for the way in which this intervention can engage with SETAs and funding for skills development in the future. As the process is currently on-going the final agreements will be captured as a post-script to this document so that it can be considered in the financing of the proposed projects

The Accords

There are five Accords supporting employment creation, these include:

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  Basic Education
  
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  Skills Development
  
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  Youth Accord
  
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  Local Procurement
  
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  Green Economy.
  

For the purposes of this paper the skills development accord and the youth accord are discussed in more detail though a high level summary of the other three are included.

Basic Education Accord	Focused on enabling the social partners to adopt historically disadvantaged schools and to support other programmes geared at systemic improvements in the basic education system. As shown above, weaknesses in basic education are major contributory factors to youth unemployment, and improvements in the education system can only assist in supporting youth to transition into employment.
Local Procurement Accord	The intention of the Accord is to stimulate the domestic economy by encouraging local procurement. It is suggested that this will lead to greater numbers of job opportunities in general, which will have a spin off effect on employment opportunities for young people. This issue was then reinforced in the youth accord, which highlights the need to support young people to initiate and develop enterprises.
Green Economy Accord	This Accord has specific targets for the training and employment of young people, specifically in relation to the manufacturing and installation of solar-water heating systems, where it is specified that at least 80% of new employees in this area will be young people.

Skills Accord

To support the achievement of the outputs outlined in the National Skills Development Strategy and the Delivery Agreement, and to further involve the social partners in this work, a Skills Accord has been developed which has been signed by all the social partners. This emanated from the NGP, which proposed a development policy package that focuses on “stepping up education and skills development” with a particular focus on: Engineers; Artisans; Workplace skills; Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges and professionals, technicians and ICT skills. The Skills Accord took this further and outlines commitments in eight key areas: these 8 commitments and a summary of related targets agreed upon include:

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  Expand the level of training using existing facilities more fully: employers - in collaboration with SETAs - commit that 30 000 new artisan learners will enter training this financial year. This target includes 31% government sector (Defence, Local government etc.), 13% SOEs (Eskom, Transnet etc.) and the balance of 56% coming from the private sector.
  
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  Make internship and placement opportunities available within workplaces: Companies will annually make 12 000 placements/internship spaces available for students who complete their certificates at FET Colleges, 5 000 internships for 3rd year students at Universities of Technology who need the work experience as part of their qualifications, and opportunities for training exposure in a work environment for at least 16 000 lecturers at FET Colleges. This will be phased in, with 20% of the target to be achieved in 2011, 50% in 2012 and 100% from 2013.
  
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  Set guidelines of ratios of trainees: artisans as well as across the technical vocations, in order to improve the level of training: Businesses should set targets of the ratios of trainees: qualified personnel they should have, in order to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of persons in the training pipeline.
  
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  Improve the funding of training and the use of funds available for training and incentives on companies to train: Business should improve spending on training -beyond the 1% compulsory training levy - to between 3 percent and 5 percent of payroll (total salary bill) on training. Further, the NSF will be used to support skills that address the priorities of the new growth path. Business and labour commits to ensuring that part of the Mandatory grant (10%) is used for funding workplace training for university of Technology students as well as FET college graduates. All parties support the commitment by government in the new growth path to revise the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment scorecard to give more prominence to training and skills enhancement.
  
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  To set annual targets for training in state-owned enterprises: For state-owned enterprises as a whole, at least 20 000 persons will be enrolled as apprentices and learners between 2011 and 2015.
  
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  To improve SETA governance and financial management as well as stakeholder involvement: Business and labour commits to improving the seniority of their delegations to SETA Board meetings.
  
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  To align training to the new growth path and improve Sector Skills Plans: A review of all Sector Skills Plans will be undertaken to ensure that they focus on skills development that is aligned to the new growth path and its manufacturing-driver, the IPAP 2 and that they set targets for skills required to improve industrial and workplace performance and in particular for the number of apprentices to be enrolled in each sector, as well as the training of professionals and training programmes that leads to a qualification. It further indicates that workplace skills plan requirements will be incorporated into the Sector Skills Plans to ensure that these are aligned to the national goals set out herein and that training practices are transformed in South Africa’s workplaces. The SSPs should then set out a funding plan to support the targets set out in such Sector and workplace Skills plans and parties will work closely with relevant government departments.
  
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  To improve the role and performance of FET Colleges (now TVET Colleges): The parties see value in a programme that encourages businesses to ‘adopt’ FET colleges. Business commits to working with FET Colleges to: Develop a plan for workplace exposure for FET college lecturers (this is seen as crucial particularly in the engineering sciences and in other scarce-skill and rapidly changing areas); Support efforts of engineers on their payroll to teach either part time or as guests, at FET colleges; Offer support, such as sponsoring machinery for the training laboratories in their adopted colleges.
  

The Youth Accord
The Youth Accord is the most recent of the Accords. It was signed on 18^th April 2013 at the Hector Peterson Memorial in Soweto by government, organised business, organised labour and community and youth formations. The elements of the Youth Employment Strategy contained in the Accord cover the following areas:

Education and Training: Improve education and training opportunities for the gap grouping between school- leaving and first employment.	Second chance matric programmes for those who did not pass or have poor results Expanding the intake of FET colleges as part of building a stronger vocational and technical skills base among young people to complement the current focus on academic training Developing a stronger roles for SETAs and other institutions to help to address the challenge faced by young people in sector and workplace programmes Expanding the target in the National Skills Accord, including for the State –owned Companies
Work exposure: Connect young people with employment opportunities; through support for job placement schemes and work readiness promotion programmes for young school leavers and provide young people with work experience.	Build on the labour centres of the Department of the Labour and the career fairs that the government has introduced. This forms part of the development of public employment services in South Africa. Private sector initiatives with employment commitments will be encouraged. All state departments should introduce a focused internship programme, aiming at employing their interns over a period of time equal to 5% of the total employment of the departments State-owned enterprise will develop placement opportunities for FET and University students who need work experience as part of completing their studies. Private sector companies will be encouraged to provide a range of work-exposure programmes, which include vacation programmes, summer internship, job shadowing as well as employment of young people in permanent jobs. Large local companies will be engaged to make firm and clear commitments. Build on successful examples elsewhere in the world of work-sharing^18 arrangements. This can ensure that part-time opportunities are made available to work-seekers to increase the number of persons with income and work experience, given that the very exposure to regular work supports and builds further employability.
Public sector measures: Increase the number of young people employed in the public sector, through coordinating and scaling up existing programmes under a ‘youth brigade’ programme.	The following should include clear youth intake targets: The Expanded Public Works Programme as well as the Community Work Programme, which should aim to absorb at least 80% of new entrants from the ranks of young people Rural development programmes, using among others the NARYSEC programme to help rebuild rural communities, assist with rural basic infrastructure such as fencing programme and road maintenance as well as addressing food security programmes. Develop a Green Brigade, focused on the Working for Water, Working for Energy, Working for Fire and other environmental programmes and road maintenance as well as expanding food security programmes Health brigades, to expand home- based care as well as health and wellness education to communities as part of the NHI, auxiliary services in health care facilities Literacy brigade, to utilize young people to expand literacy training of adults Other suitable areas of focus as identified from time to time, such as a Maintenance Brigade to undertake small, regular maintenance of assets and premises that are not currently maintained adequately or at all.
Youth target set-asides: Youth target set-asides need to be considered in particular industries, particularly new industries where young people can be drawn in large numbers and should be progressively realised.	The solar water heater installation programme, which should be made a youth focused sector, employing only young people in the core installation activities, and supporting youth cooperatives and youth – owned enterprises as providers of installation services and maintenance for solar water heating programme The rest of the green economy, where at least 60% of the labour intake should be drawn from the young people, and based on realising this target, the parties should endeavour to improve this further to 70% The infrastructure programme, where a target of at least 60% youth employment should be set for new projects and activities, together with training opportunities for young people The Business Process Services sector, which includes call centres, where a target of 80% of new employment should be explored and aimed for.
Youth entrepreneurship and youth cooperatives: Youth cooperatives and youth entrepreneurship should be promoted.	Public agencies such as Sefa, SEDA and the Job Fund will be encouraged to develop and strengthen dedicated programmes for the youth enterprises and youth co-ops. Consideration will be given to the use of the BBBEE Codes to strengthen private and public sector commitment to improve youth employment. The state can assist in a number of ways, including: Simplified registration of co-operatives and youth enterprises Technical support in enterprises development Support with demand for products, eg school nutrition programmes and procurement programmes Funding support that can complement private sector finance
Private sector measures: Work with the private sectors to expand the intake of young people, with targeted youth support and incentives approved by all constituencies.	It is important to improve private-sector youth absorption given that most sustainable new jobs are expected to be created in the private sector. Business organisations have endorsed the youth employment strategy as a practical and concrete way in which partnerships can be developed. They will undertake discussions within their structures to identify specific actions that can be taken to improve youth employment. It is agreed that specific measures will be developed by the end of March 2013 to give effect to this, with concrete commitments by the participating companies. It is agreed that such specific measures will be developed and announced by national youth month, June 2013^19.