Spotlight on youth unemployment

In their seventh Covid-19 Crisis report, the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) in Parktown focused on youth unemployment. In the report, CDE notes that, “Covid-19 has only heightened the desperate situation of the country’s unemployed youth who will have little to celebrate on 16 June. While President Cyril Ramaphosa has made youth unemployment a national priority, the proposed approach is unlikely to move the dial on this crisis.”

The report adds that South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis is a terrible waste for the people concerned and an ongoing national disaster.

The CDE goes on to suggest that to give the youth some hope, the government must start focusing on the catalytic changes required to produce a faster-growing, more labour-intensive economy in the very near future.

“As we move forward, we have to acknowledge the weaknesses and realities of South Africa’s pre-Covid-19 economy. Youth unemployment is embedded within the larger challenges that have been holding the country back for a long time. Targeted interventions and the expansion of public works opportunities have to be part of the solution, but this is nowhere near enough,” CDE says.

The centre proceeds to state that, “South Africa’s economy and our education and training systems have to change if we are to achieve faster and more labour-intensive growth. Turning the dial on the scale of youth unemployment requires a structural change in our society – the crisis cannot be tackled in isolation. Bold reforms will be required if we are to deal with a much-weakened economy and if we are to have any chance of making this a country where millions of young people can be hopeful about the future.”

Details: For the full report click the link

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