President details rigorous plan to cut youth unemployment

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is now commencing with the implementation of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, which sets out five priority actions for the next five years.

Addressing a pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) youth dialogue in Cape Town on Wednesday, the President said youth unemployment remains government’s main challenge. 

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To remove the burden of alarming joblessness among young people, the President said, interventions will be driven by a specialised Project Management Office in The Presidency.

“[The aim of the office] is to increase levels of alignment and focus across government, and begin to tackle youth unemployment at scale,” he said. 

Addressing youth formations, the President said to tackle youth challenges, government must accelerate the growth of competitive, export-oriented and labour-intensive industries, where the rate of youth labour absorption is high.

Government must ensure that the most marginalised young people have the support they need to access opportunities, said the President.

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“Our skills development system must be more responsive to demand in the immediate term as well as the long-term.

“We are working with these sectors, together with the Department of Higher Education and Training and the various SETAs [Sector Education and Training Authorities], to create opportunities for young people to undertake shorter courses in specific skills that employers require – either to help them transition into their first job or to top-up some training that they have already received,” President Ramaphosa said.

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