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

A summary of the array of policy and programmatic options

This section has highlighted the policy options that have been conceptualised in South Africa, and indicates additional proposals that are being suggested. The approaches suggested, are consistent with the types of interventions that are suggested by the World Bank. These are included here as a useful summary of the array of options that are available, and the constraints that different choices may address.

	Constraints/ Market Failures	Programmes
		Possible short term interventions	Necessary longer term measures
Lack of Labour Demand	Low job-growth economy	Wage subsidies (employee or employer based) Training subsidies Public service/public works programs Entrepreneurship/self-employment programs	Macroeconomic stability Investment climate Job generating growth
	Employer discrimination	Wage subsidies to employers for hiring target groups Employee mentoring	Labour regulations
Constraints to Self-Employment	Lack of financial, human, and social capital	Comprehensive entrepreneurship programs Micro-finance Mentoring between established and new entrepreneurs Business development services	Financial systems TVET reforms Stronger social services
Skills mismatch	Inappropriate general education	Second Chance Programs Education equivalency programs	Education reforms
	Technical skills mismatch	Training + programs Information about the returns to technical specialties On-the-job training (Internships, formal or informal Apprenticeships) Accreditation of training centres	Demand driven TVET Private-public partnership
	Soft skills mismatch	Reform teaching methodologies to incorporate soft-skills Life Skills Programs	Education curriculum TVET curriculum
	Job matching	Job intermediation centres Job counselling Financial assistance for job search Media and traditionally based information	Labour market reforms
Job search constraints	Signalling	Skills certification Training centre accreditation Secondary school diplomas	TVET reforms Private-public partnership
Social norms	Social constraints (external or self-imposed)	Beneficiary targeting scheme to bring adolescent girls and young women into the programs Home-based work, Flexible work hours Childcare options and other social support systems Training in non-traditional skills Adjust program content/ structure to account for initial differences

These options, and the manner in which they have succeeded in addressing the various constraints outlined are considered in the following section.

2. Review of the types of interventions generally used to link young people to employment in South Africa and emerging learning

This section of the report considers the nature of the interventions that are currently being implemented in South Africa and an analysis of the learning emanating from the interventions that have already been implemented, highlighting some examples of good practices that have emerged from this process.

This relies on an extensive review of the interventions implemented in South Africa. Methodologically this included accessing as many evaluations of programmes that the research team could, reviewing these, and then follow up interviews with individuals in some of these programmes in order to clarify certain issues that emerged from the evaluation and to explore certain issues in more depth. In addition, the team interviewed individuals from organisations, which have been intensely involved in designing, resourcing and implementing programmes for unemployed young people over the past decade in order to explore the learning that has been developed through these processes. Particular attention was paid to understanding the factors that are perceived to enable young people to make the anticipated transition (A detailed review table can be found in Annexure A.)
This took into account the issues raised in the previous sections of this report, which outlined the many, and diverse, reasons why young people struggle to access the labour market in South Africa, as well as some of the policy interventions, which have been developed, by different role players, to respond to these. Across all sectors of society, there is a recognition that South Africa cannot continue to have generations of young people who complete their schooling and are then disconnected from any opportunity to generate an income. Some key issues emerging from this policy analysis suggests that to address this challenge there is a need to ensure that the following is in place:

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  Incentives for employers to overcome their reluctance to employ school leavers
  
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  Greater investment in ensuring that young people leaving school have the attitudes and skills which better equip them to take up available opportunities
  
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  Publicly funded interventions to engage young people in constructive activities while the number of formal jobs remain inadequate to absorb all work seekers
  
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  Greater development of an entrepreneurial capacity, will create support for young people.
  

Critically, there is the constant caveat inserted, that for any youth employability interventions to succeed it is necessary for the economy to grow in a manner that absorbs greater numbers of workers.

This analysis found that interventions to address these imperatives could generally be categorised in the following manner:

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  Those that focus on improving the ability of secondary school learners to make a transition into further learning and the workplace
  
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  Those that enhance the work readiness of young people and support the placement of young people
  
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  Those that support the development of occupational competence
  
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  Those that enable entrepreneurial development
  
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  Those that create public employment opportunities.
  

1.