#Backchat focuses on youth jobs

Picture: @ElleSego/Twitter

Picture: @ElleSego/Twitter

Published May 27, 2016

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Johannesburg - Young people say the education system and lack of investment in youth businesses are some of the stumbling blocks to job creation.

Gathered at #Backchat discussions on youth jobs with the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Buti Manamela, young people said they found the education system was not geared to prepare them for the world of work.

Nor was it able to provide much needed skills to be innovative job creators.

“We need to start interrogating our education. There's a serious mismatch between what education produces and what the labour market demand,” said a discussant.

The group was realistic about the decline in the mining and steel industries, with some suggesting the country ought to focus on new industries, such as tech.

“We are so obsessed with industries that are failing. What Patrice Motsepe did in 1994, we are starting in 2016 and still expect it to work. The workers losing their jobs in mining should be re-skilled to be able to work elsewhere,” said Tech Entrepreneur, Goitse Konopi.

Other young people decried some of the conditions they find themselves in when they are employed, with some complaining about the high cost of unreliable public transport that could easily lead to their dismissals.

While some complained they were not working in career streams they had qualified for, with one participant saying she was a personal assistant, while she had studied Finance.

Manamela said government had a bigger role to play by taking the lead on the fronts where the young people had recognised issues standing in the way of youth jobs.

“What’s more important is the fact that there is this engagement and for atleast on my part there becomes the obligations of taking the things coming out of here forward. It’s about where the economy needs to be focused on. Also what our priorities are,” said Manamela.

Labour Bureau

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