Minister
3 April 2007
South Africa needs to adopt new strategies to deal with the high
unemployment rate in the country. Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says
emphasis is on re-skilling and retraining of people in the labour market,
especially unemployed youths.
The Minister was speaking in Beijing, China, where he is currently on a
visit to strengthen the co-operation agreed to by the two countries last year.
He is accompanied by trade union and business representatives. He mentioned in
a meeting with leaders of All China Youth Federation that one of the challenges
facing South Africa is creating sustainable jobs for the youth. He added that
although the country's economy is growing at an annual 5 percent rate, that
growth is not generating jobs at this stage, with thousands of graduates and
matriculants filing the ranks of unemployed.
"A large part of this is historical. We need to refocus training of young
people to produce the kind of cadre needed by the current times. In addition to
existing programmes, my department has launched a project that will match
skills to available jobs, avail the database to both job-seekers and employers
to facilitate employment. This will include young people and retrenchees. The
latter will be retrained and reintroduced to the labour market."
Like South Africa, China is faced with a high rate of unemployed youths. The
two countries also have similar strategies in addressing skills shortages. They
both have internships, skills levies and apprenticeships amongst others but
China has also enlisted commercial banks to assist young people to set up
businesses at low interest rates. An example South Africa hopes to emulate.
Secretary-General of the All China Youth Federation, Hu Chunhua said 4,9
million graduates have no jobs. "We are faced with a shortage of skilled
workers versus a surplus of workers who cannot find jobs because of a lack of
required skills. In addition, close to 200 million rural migrant young workers
flock to the urban areas in search of work," Hu said.
Hu said as China is still a developing country like South Africa, they are
looking forward to forge better co-operation in dealing with common
challenges.
Enquiries:
Zolisa Sigabi
Cell: 082 906 3878
Issued by: Department of Labour
3 April 2007
