Young People Navigating the Labour Market Issues facing young people in accessing the labour market

Learning emerging from the SA experience

The review of programme experience in South Africa and the fact that there is now a substantial body of experience from programme evaluations, has allowed the team to extrapolate some key learnings related to what makes programmes most likely to succeed.

1. Recruit young people who have the competence to cope with the programme

It was found that learning programmes which define the competencies that young people need to succeed in a programme and/or the workplace (e.g. not just have matric but the specific communication, literacy and numeracy competence that they require to cope with the learning programme and ultimately the workplace) and then assess applicants for this ability prior to selection report significantly higher numbers of youth completing the programme and graduating from the programme.

While providers are often anxious to give “as many people as possible” the chance to participate, recruiting learners who will not be able to cope with a learning programme means they are more likely to fail or drop out, and this will have negative implications for them personally, and means funds are spent on projects with low success rates.
Associated with this learning is the need for programmes to actively identify applicants who do not meet the assessment criteria, and either provide them with the competencies that they require prior to undertaking the programme, or refer these young people to other interventions, such as adult learning centres, so to improve their competence and prepare them for other opportunities.

2. Offer information and guidance to learners on what the programme will provide and what opportunities may exist beyond the programme

It was also found that programmes which are able to clearly articulate to applicants, both prior to and during the programme, the intent and expectations of the programme, maintained higher levels of participation and placement beyond the programme, than those where participants were unclear.

This includes information about what the programme will require from participants (e.g. classroom attendance and passing assignments; reporting for work or full participation in other activities), what the conditions of the programme are - many programmes reported that disputes about stipends and work place opportunities were common reasons for people to drop out – and what opportunities could be taken up by learners beyond the programme.
The ability to communicate changes in the programme conditions were therefore also considered critical: it was found that whilst institutional arrangements often meant that stipends or allowances were paid late, programmes which anticipated this and kept learners aware of the process were able to negotiate the difficulties and prevent drop out.

3. Recruiting young people who are interested in and motivated to take part in the programme

Programmes which recruited young people based on their demonstrated interest in the programmes, and which tested this prior to finalising participation, also achieved better results.

National Youth Service projects in health for example, reported they achieved the best results when they recruited young people who already had an active history of volunteering in the sector. An FET skills programme in catering, carefully assessed applicants existing experience and interest in the food industry and was then able to graduate and place all the learners in employment beyond the programme. Participants who demonstrate this motivation are more likely to be pro-active in sustaining their participation, even when they encounter challenges.
Programmes which actively develop and test this motivation as part of the learning process also have high levels for success. Examples of this include enforcing learner punctuality, completion of assignments and reviewing non-participation or poor performance as a regular activity.

4. Address the relevance of learning programmes

Very few of the evaluations obtained reviewed the learning programmes which had been developed. This makes it difficult to establish the extent to which the curricula and available materials are appropriate for the courses being offered.

However, what was found was that with respect to occupational programmes, where employers understand the programme content and find it sufficient for the job opportunities being identified, programmes were able to successfully place learners at the end of the programme.
There was also evidence that results further improved where employers were engaged in the design of the programme, specifying entry requirements and informing the learning institution of the kind of competencies required for employment.

In addition, it was found that this was further enhanced in those programmes where the providers engaged mentors who had experience in the industry, and who were able to work with learners during the training sessions and in the workplace, so as to assist the learners to make the linkages between the theory and the practice.

5. Providing support to enable young people to access formal employment

It was found that it is critical that young people, that have limited networks, are supported to access opportunities. This involves a number of steps: including assessment, matching and where necessary bridging. Critically, it then involves working with employers to encourage them to recruit new entrants with limited experience, and also entails preparing the young people for any selection process that employers may have in place, as well as for the workplace (in terms of both work readiness and an understanding of what to expect in the workplace).

To complement the above, it is suggested that there are a number of possibilities emerging about possible incentives that could be put in place: for example, one idea which has been tabled for several years is that participation in a public employment programme can earn a participant a “voucher” to access further learning. Another option that has been piloted and is being discussed, is that of the wage incentive. This has also been shown to have possibilities where coupled with other forms of support (as outlined above).

6. Providing support to enable young people to initiate an enterprise

Successful entrepreneurial programmes in secondary schools tended to include several activities:

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  They helped learners understand the concept of entrepreneurship and gave specific examples of people who have achieved success in this area
  
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  They engaged learners in practical activities such as starting small businesses and experiencing at first hand the need for market research; budgeting and product development
  
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  They helped learners identify ways of exploring entrepreneurial activities while they were still at school, and identifying possibilities beyond school.
  

For out of school learners two types of entrepreneurial development programmes were dominant:

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  The first intended to recruit people interested in business activity, with no tangible skills development interventions to be provided. These programmes had to clearly define the technical and general skills participants would require and then assess applicants in relation to these prior to recruitment.
  
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  The second aimed to support people who had completed a learning programme to establish income generating opportunities using those skills at the end of the programme. Lessons for success in these programmes included making learners aware of the entrepreneurial opportunities while they were still engaged in the technical training; providing dedicated business incubation support through access to tools, workshops and advice beyond the programme, and a recognition that learners may require 2-3 years of this support before they become fully independent.
  

It was also noted that employers are increasingly building entrepreneurial development into supplier development programmes so that there is a market for the goods/services, although other programmes emphasise the need for diversity of markets so as not to develop dependency.

7. Ways to design Public Works programmes that meet the needs of youth

In the second phase of the EPWP, projects began to focus on providing only the training required to undertake the work, rather than on skills training that enables individuals to exit into an economic activity: this change took place as it became clear that for many projects, there was not sufficient time, nor capacity, to allow substantial skills training. However, it was recognised that the situation is slightly different for 18-24 year olds who participate in public employment programmes. The intent for this group of beneficiaries is not that they remain within the programme, but that it provides structured activity and some income while they assess other opportunities which they may pursue.

The CWP reports that 18-24 year olds have higher literacy and numeracy rates than the older workers, and thus they are usually employed in the leadership positions on site. This means they work at a slightly higher rate and for more days. CWP staff believe that in many communities, school leavers now see the CWP as a chance to “progress” and network, and not as a keep busy programme. They also report that young people are eager for any training opportunity, and prefer work which engages them in activities such as community education or building relationships and skills. The CWP and the NYS also report that in programmes where youth undertake work, and demonstrate leadership, which is valuable to communities, the status of the young people increases, and they are more likely to remain with the programme, and in a number of instances, are able to access employment because of this.

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