The Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) has been implemented, with the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) being a part of it, across South Africa, in an effort to alleviate some of the country's high rate of youth unemployment.
Why The PYEI Was Introduced By Government
Unemployment is one of South Africa's most pressing issues, especially amongst the youth. The situation shows little signs of improvement, and is made worse by debilitating periods of loadshedding and the high cost of living.
There are not enough available jobs for South Africa's youth; no job results in no money, but even with some kind of income, everything required for survival is expensive and unaffordable during this rising economic climate.
To counter the negative impacts of the pandemic on youth employment and education, the government introduced the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), which the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) fell under.
These initiatives aimed to provide employment opportunities for young people at a time when the country's economy was facing uncertainty. The implementation of these programs involved an allocation of R26.6 billion from the National Treasury Department to the Provincial Education Departments across the country.
The PYEI has seen success since its implementation, having created more than 1 million job opportunities for the youth between 2020 and 2023.
Notably, certain provincial education departments have excelled in creating these employment avenues, contributing significantly to the youth's well-being and the nation's economic stability.
Some of those employed by the PYEI work in schools as teaching and general assistants. Phase Four of the PYEI has officially kicked off for the 2023 academic year.
The Eastern Cape's Basic Education Department stands out for creating over 220 000 job opportunities over the past three years, aided by a budget allocation of R3.8 billion. Similarly, the Gauteng Department of Basic Education accomplished an impressive feat, generating 170 000 jobs with a budget of R3 billion.
How The PYEI Helped To Combat Youth Unemployment
Youth Capital works to help solve the main challenges that face South Africa's youth with work that expands far greater than this.
According to Krystal Duncan-Williams, who is the Project Lead at Youth Capital, there are around 9 million people that are not in any form of education employment or training, adding that most of the young people who are unemployed have never had work experience.
So 8 out of 10 young people who are unemployed have never had a job, and as I'm sure you and I can both attest to, when we first graduate [or] we first matriculate [and are] trying to look for some some work, it always asks for work experience and you can't get work experience if you've never had a job, and you can't get a job because you have no work experience.
"Young people are kind of stuck and this is really where public employment programmes are coming [in] and filling the gap and have been shown to have success in Brazil and India and other countries, so it's not a new thing. In the South African context, that's really where the government kind of steps into Fill a Gap."
I think that in itself justifies why its probably one of the most effective initiatives that government has implemented, and now to suddenly just it out, I don't think that it's right.
Youth unemployment remains one of South Africa's most pressing issues that has shown very little signs of improvement, despite efforts from government and other organizations. A lack of relevant work experience, limited social capital and insufficient resources for job searching can also account for the high unemployment rate.
Duncan-Williams says that businesses should assist employees that fall under the youth by offering to pay for their taxi fares or buying them a gig of data, if it's a work-from-home job.
Young people are just not work ready; Youth Capital has spent quite a bit of time since last year talking to small business owners (and in the New Year again), and young people just don't have the skills they need for the workplace.
Having a Tertiary Qualification Does Not Guarantee Employment
In the 2023 academic year, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has funded more than one million students so that they can pursue higher education.
Receiving a post-school qualification opens more doors for these students, however, it is not enough for the students who fall into the “missing middle” category.
Still, even with more funding opportunities for youth, South Africa has a growing labour market, which the economy cannot keep up with. Another issue of this was seen earlier this year when our tertiary institutions were faced with a critical student accommodation shortage.
In the last 25 years, South Africa has seen more and more young people applying to colleges and universities.
Higher learning institutions have been unable to accommodate this oversupply of students, and now we are seeing the same issue when these students graduate and enter the job market. So, even graduates with a high level of education remain jobless.
