SA’s youth wage subsidy shows little results, World Bank report shows
by Staff Writer,
2015-10-13 15:06:01.0
SOUTH Africa’s youth wage subsidy scheme has not been very effective in eradicating youth unemployment, the World Bank says in a new report it compiled in partnership with several other institutions.
"The programme (youth wage subsidy) had no significant impact on individual earnings and suffered from a low take-up of the employment vouchers by eligible employers, which partly explains its moderate impact," the report said.
The government subsidises companies to employ and give work experience to the youth through the programme.
SA, like many other countries around the world, needed better programmes to address chronic youth unemployment, the report, released on Tuesday, said.
Across the globe, last year, about 500-million youth were unemployed, underemployed, or working in jobs that offered no security.
The global economy would need to create 600-million jobs over the next 10 years, or 5-million jobs each month, simply to keep employment rates constant, the report noted.
"Right now, the prospects for too many young people to be engaged in productive work are dim," it said.
The most recent data from the world development indicators showed that Libya’s youth unemployment stood at 49%, that for Serbia at 49%, that for SA at 51%, and that for Jamaica at 35%.
A man sits on the pavement advertising for ‘piece work’. If we were able to halve the unemployment rate among people aged 19-35 years, which according to recent World Bank data is about 53.6% of our population, we could lower our overall unemployment rate by slightly more than 50%. Picture: THE TIMES
SOUTH Africa’s youth wage subsidy scheme has not been very effective in eradicating youth unemployment, the World Bank says in a new report it compiled in partnership with several other institutions.
"The programme (youth wage subsidy) had no significant impact on individual earnings and suffered from a low take-up of the employment vouchers by eligible employers, which partly explains its moderate impact," the report said.
The government subsidises companies to employ and give work experience to the youth through the programme.
SA, like many other countries around the world, needed better programmes to address chronic youth unemployment, the report, released on Tuesday, said.
Across the globe, last year, about 500-million youth were unemployed, underemployed, or working in jobs that offered no security.
The global economy would need to create 600-million jobs over the next 10 years, or 5-million jobs each month, simply to keep employment rates constant, the report noted.
"Right now, the prospects for too many young people to be engaged in productive work are dim," it said.
The most recent data from the world development indicators showed that Libya’s youth unemployment stood at 49%, that for Serbia at 49%, that for SA at 51%, and that for Jamaica at 35%.
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