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South Africa

Strategies for youth employment

Strategies for youth employment
Yes

Youth employment strategy planned in the next 2 years

Discussions within the government
Yes
Consultations with national-level stakeholders (e.g. employers’ and workers’ associations, youth councils, etc.)
Yes
A draft strategy already exists
Yes
Other (please specify)
No

Countries with national action plans for youth employment

Monitoring framework (timeline and activity/outcome indicators, e.g. youth labour market indicators)
Yes
Funding (indicative budget to implement the plan)
Yes
Institutional responsibilities (e.g. ministries/agencies in charge of specific planned activities )
Yes
Other, specify
No

Public funding for the national youth employment strategy

Public funding for the national youth employment strategy
Yes

Additional information:
Department of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD), and the National Treasury.

Youth in the national development / employment strategy

Youth in the national development / employment strategy
Yes

Additional information:
- National Youth Development Agency Act, No. 54 of 2008 - National Youth Policy (NYP 2020-2030). - Integrated Youth Development Strategy (IYDS) 2022-2025

Countries with national goals for youth employment

Countries with national goals for youth employment
Yes

Additional information:
National goals and objectives to promote youth employment are included in: - National Youth Development Agency Act, No. 54 of 2008 - National Youth Policy (NYP 2020-2030). - Integrated Youth Development Strategy (IYDS) 2022-2025 - Youth-Mobil In addition, the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative is focused on young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETs), and through the Department of Employment and Labour and the Presidency aims at achieving 1 million youth jobs by 2024. This intervention includes the "National Pathway Management Network", which provides young work-seekers with a range of support services and work readiness training to help them navigate into employment and other economic opportunities. Furthermore, other apex interventions have included attempts to revitalize the National Youth Service (through a "Presidential Youth Service"), facilitate workplace integrated learning and support for the township and rural economy to enable self-employment and enterprise development. A goal is to overcome structural unemployment and discouragement of young work-seekers in the South African labour market, especially in rural areas and township economies through national programmes such as o Youth Employment Tax Incentive, Youth Employment Service (YES), Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Scorecard.

Countries with quantitative targets for youth employment

Countries with quantitative targets for youth employment
Yes

Additional information:
Reduce youth unemployment to under 20% in 2030 from 40% in 2024. Increase youth in Basic Education from 50% in 2024 to 80% in 2030. Increase youth in Higher Education from 50% in 2024 to 75% in 2030.

Policy areas in national youth employment strategies

Macroeconomic and Sectoral policies
Yes
Enterprise Development
Yes
Education, Training and skills development
Yes
Labour Demand
Yes
Labour Law and Legislation
Yes
Labour Market Policies
Yes
Other (please specify)
No

Social partners' inclusion in the youth employment strategy

Workers
Implementation of youth employment strategies/programmes (e.g. social partners as official implementers of the strategy or programme)
Consulted
Assessment of youth employability (alignment of youth qualifications and skills to labour market needs)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Monitoring and evaluation of youth employment interventions (e.g. active labour market programmes)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Awareness raising, marketing and promotion of youth employment (e.g. campaign to promote youth employment)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Formulation of youth employment strategies (e.g. national action plan for youth)
Consulted
Development of youth employment programmes (e.g. sectoral programme with a clear target to employ X number of youth)
Consulted
Employers
Implementation of youth employment strategies/programmes (e.g. social partners as official implementers of the strategy or programme)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Assessment of youth employability (alignment of youth qualifications and skills to labour market needs)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Monitoring and evaluation of youth employment interventions (e.g. active labour market programmes)
Fully involved
Awareness raising, marketing and promotion of youth employment (e.g. campaign to promote youth employment)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Formulation of youth employment strategies (e.g. national action plan for youth)
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
Development of youth employment programmes (e.g. sectoral programme with a clear target to employ X number of youth)
Fully involved

Youth-led organizatios' inclusion in the national strategy

Fully involved
Yes
Partially involved (only for some elements of the strategy)
No
Consulted
No
Informed
No
Not involved
No

Countries with national partnerships for youth employment

Countries with national partnerships for youth employment
Yes

Additional information:
2025: There are quite a number of them, but in this case, it suffices to mention just a few: - Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, Youth Employment Service, South African Economic Youth Council (SAYEC); Activate organisation; Youth Chamber of Commerce & Industry Africa (YCCI) _______ 2024 Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) looking at areas of interoperability, responding to and aggregating demand, e-learning tools and eco-system mapping ------- 2020 Yes, NYDA has a Strategic Partnership with the South African Youth Chamber of Commerce

Inclusiveness of vulnerable groups in national strategies

Women
Yes
Migrant Workers
No
NEETs
Yes
People with disabilities
Yes
Low skilled workers
Yes
Rural workers
Yes
Other (please specify)
No

Youth employment strategies and international cooperation

Youth employment strategies and international cooperation
Yes

Additional information:
2025: NYDA Trainers, had received training sponsored by ILO. Every NYDA new Trainer is mandatory to be trained by ILO. British High Commission European Union United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). https://www.nyda.gov.za/UNDP-and-NYDA-partnership-agreement-for-youth-development.html Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 2024 International Labour Organisation. British High Commission European Union United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). https://www.nyda.gov.za/UNDP-and-NYDA-partnership-agreement-for-youth-development.html Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH ------- 2020 Yes, we have a partnership with ILO and United Nations