Youth enterprise development strategy 2013-2023
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Date
2014-05
Authors
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
The Department of Small Business Development
Abstract
The Department of Small Business Development is delighted to introduce to the public the Youth Enterprise Development Strategy (YEDS). South Africa is faced with the challenge of limited and poor participation of young people in the economy. A salient feature of this poor economic participation is high persistent youth unemployment, which means that young people are not acquiring the skills and work experience they need to assist in driving the economy forward. It is also difficult for young South Africans to secure business opportunities to develop their own businesses. The overall unemployment rate in the country stands at 25% and rises to about 36% if discouraged workers are included in the calculation1. Youth unemployment constitutes 73% of the total unemployment in the country. Therefore the ratio of youth to-adult unemployment is about 1:3 (i.e. for every unemployed adult there are three unemployed youth). About 42% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed, compared to less than 17% of adults over the age of 30. Only one in eight working adults under the age of 25 have a job, compared with 40% in most emerging economies similar to South Africa. Employment of youth aged between 18 and 24 years old has fallen by more than 20% since December 2008. Unemployed young people tend to be less skilled and inexperienced; almost 86% do not have formal further or tertiary education, while two-thirds have never worked. The overall determinants of the high levels of youth unemployment are a lack of skills for jobs required by the economy; young job seekers believe the probability of finding a job is so low that they do not even look; lack of work experience; lack of job search capabilities and networks; companies find it risky and costly to employ young people; the rate of population growth among youth far exceeds the number of jobs created by the economy and, in certain instances, the low levels of economic growth. The Department of Small Business Development offers this policy instrument in response to the call made by the New Growth Path (NGP) for the state to provide bold, imaginative and effective strategies to create millions of new jobs that would also address youth unemployment and limited participation of young people in the economy. Through this strategy instrument, Government intends to foster youth economic participation by deliberately enhancing youth entrepreneurship, accelerating the growth of youth owned and managed enterprises capable of contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate and increasing youth self-employment and innovation.
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Keywords
Youth -- Employment, Entrepreneurship, Youth -- Economic conditions, Minority business enterprises