Transcript Document

Integrating youth into the workplace
Presentation to the 25th Annual
Labour Law conference
02 August 2012
Deputy Director General: Public Employment Services
Mr. Sam Morotoba
Department of Labour
Presentation Outline
1.Youth Unemployment Challenges
2.Why must we prioritize youth
3.Current Interventions targeting youth
4.Integrating Youth into the Workplace
5. Department of Labour interventions
Unemployment levels: April to June 2012 Labour Force:
•Unemployment reached 4 470 000, which is a decline on year to year comparison as unemployment level
was 4 538 000 in this quarter in 2011.
•Of the total unemployment level, 1 924 000 are new entrants into the labour market..
•1 458 000 of the unemployed are people who lost their jobs.
In this quarter male unemployment is a bit higher that female unemployment.
•Of the total unemployed people 59.3% do not have matric while 33.5% have matric as their highest level of
education.
•Only 6.3% of the unemployed have tertiary education qualification.
•Unemployment is still high among young people as they constitute just more than 3 quarters of the
total unemployment population.
•Of the 4.4 million unemployed 1 291 000 are young people between the ages of 15 – 24.
•1 870 000 young people between ages 25 -34 were also reported unemployed in quarter 2 of 2012 (April to
June is quarter 2 for StatsSA).
•This gives us a total of 3 161 000 young people who are unemployed, making up 70.7% of the total
unemployment level.
Employment Levels: April to June 2012 Labour Force:
• Overall Employment increased over the year from 13 125 000 to 13 447 000
to June 2012.
• Community services was the highest contributor (3 012 000) to employment with
a steady increase across the quarters since Q1 in 2011.
• This was followed by Trade with a total of 2 966 000 people employed in the
sector in this quarter.
• Finance and manufacturing also added significantly to the levels of employment
with 1 737 000 and 1 678 000 respectively.
• However, they both experienced employment decline over the year with
manufacturing being the biggest looser as 57 000 employment was lost since
June 2011.
Long-term unemployment1 has risen in
several G20 countries
Percentage of total unemployment, 2007 Q3-2011 Q32,3
Countries shown in ascending order of the incidence of long-term unemployment in 2011 Q3.
1. Persons unemployed for one year or more..2. 2008 Q2-2011 Q2 for Argentina; 2007 Q2-2011 Q2 for the Russian Federation and 2008 Q3-2011 Q3 for South
Africa..3. Selected urban areas for Argentina and Brazil. Source: OECD estimates based on various national surveys.
Some G20 countries face large jobs gaps1
Percentage of actual employment, annual averages based on quarterly estimates 2,3,4
%
2011
2012
2013
20
15
10
5
0
-5
-10
Countries shown in ascending order of jobs gap in 2011.
1. The job gaps at a particular date is defined as the increase in employment required to restore the ratio of total employment to the working-age population to its value in
2007 Q4. 2 Selected urban areas only for Argentina and Brazil. 3 Employment data before 2011 have been adjusted to take account of the introduction of new
population estimates from the 2010 Population Census.4. Data refer to persons aged 15-72 for the Russian Federation and aged 15-64 for South Africa.
Source: OECD estimates based on OECD Economic Outlook projections for the OECD countries and national Quarterly Labour Force Surveys for the other G-20
economies.
Policy challenges contributing to youth
unemployment
•Rapidly-expanding labour supply that may not be in synch with economic growth and job creation;
•Large youth cohorts that put the education and training systems under significant stress;
•Significant weaknesses in basic or foundation education, including less–than-universal access for
girls, the poor and those living in remote areas;
•Persisting barriers to access to further education;
•A widespread informal economy and, in some cases, significant incidence of child labour;
•Larger rural/agricultural sectors, with sharp disparities between rural and urban areas;
•Weak infrastructure and administrative capacity to support skills development and matching in the
labour market (qualifications frameworks, teacher training programmes, training equipment, career
guidance, labour market information);
•Some of the institutions to support vocational education and training (e.g. unions and employers
associations) may be weak.
2. Why must we prioritize Youth?
A smooth transition from school to work is key to giving youth a fair
chance in the labour market
1. Youth face particular challenges in making a successful transition from school to work and laying the
foundation for a good career. A successful insertion in the labour market at the beginning of one’s career
has a profound influence on later working life, while it can be difficult to catch up after an initial failure.
2. High youth unemployment and under-employment have negative economic and social
effects not only for the individuals concerned, but also for societies, especially
discouragement and exclusion boils over into social unrest.
when
3. Equipping youth with skills relevant to the labour market is critical to their success in the labour market
and is a key responsibility of the education system.
4. Well-designed vocational education and training programmes can play a key role, providing
technical skills and blending workplace and classroom learning to facilitate successful
transition
from school to work. e.g. Germany’s dual system provides one well-known example of a successful
model.
5. Active labour market programmes, job-search assistance and even learnerships and skills programmes
for low-skilled youth, can make a difference in facilitating the transition to employment for young j
obseekers.
Why is investing in youth a policy priority?
Skills are crucial for global prosperity
1. Skills are key drivers of the prosperity of nations and the life chances of
individuals. The benefits of getting skills policy “right” are high.
2. To be able to deliver effectively required skills, education and training policy
must be combined with labour market and other policies that promote the
creation of more and better jobs.
3. How policies are implemented and adapted to local economic reality and how
partnerships are built among different key stakeholders (social partners, NGOs)
are critical for the success and sustainability of outcomes.
4. Countries are increasingly competing on skills, yet the scope for movement of
people, goods and services and investment across borders means there are
potential synergies to be achieved by having effective skills strategies in place in
all countries.
3.South African Policy interventions and
programs
•
New Growth Path
-Confronting Youth Unemployment: Policy options for South Africa
- National Youth Policy and Regional Youth
Charters
-Government Department and private sector youth,
women and
people with disability plans.
- National social partners coordination structures
•
Social Security and Retirement Reform
- People With Disability grants
- Social Income Grants to impoverished Children and Youth
meeting means test up to 18 years.
South African Policy interventions and
programs
• Education and Skills Development
– Categories of no school fees schools; Bursaries and Study Loan
schemes.
– 1% Skills levy and apprenticeships, learnerships and internship
programs wherein participating learners receive allowances.
Employment Services
Public Employment Services offered free to Work seeker
Registration, career counselling & information, recruitment and
selection, job matching and have proposed an Employment
Services Bill to provide the Minister and the Department with
the necessary power to intervene in other areas.
South African Policy interventions and programs
• Special Employment Programs
– Funded mainly from workers Unemployment Insurance and
Compensation Fund Reserve Investment, Pensions Funds
Bonds, Government grants and procurement
– Public enterprise major infrastructure projects; Sheltered
Employment & Subsidized Factories; Social Plan & Training Lay
Off schemes, Small Business Development, Cooperatives
development, Sports, Arts and Culture etc.
 Government Poverty Alleviation Works Programs
• Public works programs, Community Works Program, Land
Reform, Working for Water etc, provide participants a standard
poverty alleviation income.
4. Integrating Youth into the Workplace
Key actions for a virtuous circle of stronger, sustained growth and
more and better jobs
3. Policies to address youth unemployment
must be integrated with other Strategies
Tackling the rise in youth
unemployment since the start of
the Great Recession
Addressing informality
Set institutions to support
the creation of productive
jobs for youth
The need to reduce the
skills mismatch
Policies to promote growth
are vital for reducing youth
unemployment and inactivity
Spreading the rewards
from education
Vocational training
and its role in
supporting schoolto-work transitions
Policy Interventions: Employers Views re intervention to alleviate youth high
unemployment levels
Employers amongst others want:
• To be allowed to establish special Social Investment programmes targeting
youth, PWD and women.
• To introduce new forms of work organisations, distant production process,
flexi hours and outsourcing in order to create more employment and to
meet the needs of the youth of today.
• Governments to increase provision of free employment services for young
people in order enable employers to quickly select and place people in
employment.
• Increased support to a network of small business to development for young
people.
• increased network that will allow developing countries youth to have
access to learning opportunities in developed countries institutions in order
to gain experience and knowledge.
Trade Union perspectives to address youth unemployment levels
Trade Unions are of the view that:
• There were social, political and economic aspects that must be addressed
simultaneously when developing youth employment policies
• Companies should resist from compounding the situation by requiring young
people to provide proof of unrealistic experience and entry requirements.
• The need for a processes to define the concept of unemployment so that
interventions can be consistent given that more than 60% people of participate
in informal economy.
• The need to address challenges posed by very low minimum wages at Industry
that discourages people from entering formal employment and also encourages
those in formal employment to exit employment to join the informal economy.
• Youth Jobs Pact could be agreed to that include discounted wages coupled
to skills development, apprenticeships and a minimum floor of labour
standards.
• Government must target bulk infrastructure investments and procurement as a
means to increase employment creation.
•
Sectors with potential for growth: Climate changes impact on
Industries expansion and shrinking. 2030 relative to the business-asusual scenario
% deviation from BAU in 2030
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
Employment
Value added
Job reallocation will likely increase more in some
countries than in others
•
•
Extra reallocation in 2030 relative to business-as-usual
scenario
Reallocation tends to be larger for energy exporters
Extra reallocation relative to BAU in 2030 (scenario 1)
(% of total employment)
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Labour market reforms to boost job
creation
• Some policy challenges:
– Boosting labour demand in the short-run: e.g. net hiring
subsidies which support companies that decide to
expand their workforce can be a cost-effective way to
boost job creation in the short-run
– Promoting adaptability of labour markets: this involves
ensuring effective protection of workers while also
encouraging firms to hire formally and invest in human
capital
– Tackling different dualisms: temporary/permanent;
formal/informal; urban/rural; youth/older)
Effective social protection
• Providing adequate safety nets while minimising
benefit dependency:
– Adequate safety nets to support job search and
prevent the risk of poverty and exclusion…
- combined with enforced job-search requirements
and effective re-employment services
– Adjustment of max duration of UBs during major
downturns should be considered
– Social assistance targeted to those in need can go a
long way in reducing informality and promoting longterm investment in human capital and health of
children.
Activating the job seekers
• Access to safety nets has increasingly been made
conditional on an active job search, following the
“mutual obligations” principle
• …but identifying effective re-employment
programmes for the unemployed is not easy
– Job-search assistance programmes tend to be most
cost-effective
– Training programmes work best when they are carefully
tailored to local or national labour market needs
– Given administrative capacity can we also consider
make participation in programmes compulsory after a
certain period of job search
Human capital investment
• Key to promote employability in the formal sector
and contribute growth framework
• Need to adopt a “life-cycle” approach:
– Promoting early childhood education and care;
– Improving the quality of learning provision and equality
of access;
– Strengthening vocational education routes (e.g. dual
schooling systems);
– Facilitating STW transitions via e.g. apprenticeships
– Tackling skills mismatches;
– Expanding skill investments in mid-career.
Department of Labour interventions to assist
companies to employ people including youth
Employment Services Bill 2010
•Free Employment Services Provision
•Registration of workseekers & vacancies, Job Matching, Career Counselling
•Employment Schemes
•Labour Migration Management
•Regulation of Private Employment Agencies
•Promotion of Employment of People with Disabilities
•Productivity promotion
Unemployment Insurance Fund and Compensation Fund investment with
the PIC and other Labour Law amendments.
THANK YOU
Deputy Director General: Public Employment Services
Mr Sam Morotoba
Tel: 012 309 4782
Fax: 012 320 0792
Email: [email protected]