Skills Conference 21 February 2006
Programme Director,
Business Leaders,
Academia,
Organised labour
Government representatives
CEOs of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs)
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honoured to be invited to this important gathering this morning.
Developing the skills of our provincial human resources is one of the
fundamental objectives of our Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP) and
the foundation of economic growth in our province. Last week this Province held
the first Provincial Job Summit, demonstrating the commitment of all social
partners to job creation for economic and social transformation. Speaker after
speaker outlined the importance of human resource development in the context of
job creation and confirmed the need to develop the skills base of our Province
from âlowâ to intermediate.
A vision that we hope this gathering will foster and deliver on in the next
decade to 2014. Based on data from LFS6 (Labour Force Survey), it is estimated
that the Eastern Cape has 3.87 million people of working age (15-64). Of these
only 46.6% are estimated to be economically active (using the official or
âstrictâ definition). This is low when compared with the national labour force
participation rate of 56.7%. Of the economically active population in the
Eastern Cape, 590 000 or 32.5% (± 2.3%) are unemployed. This unemployment rate
is not statistically different from the national unemployment rate of
30.5%.
Labour force participation increases with higher levels of educational
attainment. While only 37% of those with no schooling are economically active
(using the official definition), 71% of individuals with matric and 86% of
those with tertiary education are economically active. Unemployment amongst
those with tertiary education is considerably lower than for other groups.
There are large returns to education and training. Whereas the average
salary for someone with less than matric is R666 per month, this rises to R2831
pm for someone with matric and R5677 pm for a worker with a diploma or degree.
It is important to acknowledge that in a context where the vast majority of the
unemployed are unskilled alongside skill shortages, the unemployment problem is
clearly structural and not cyclical.
We should also be cognisant of the fact that high and growing rates of
unemployment are a consequence of dynamics on both the demand and supply sides
of the labour market. On the supply-side, increasing rates of labour force
participation has significantly expanded the number of job seekers, while the
demand for labour has been sluggish, particularly in the formal sector. The
Province has adopted the PGDP to both stimulate economic growth and to
eradicate poverty. Noting the six fundamental objectives of Poverty
Eradication, Human Resource Development, Public Sector Transformation,
Manufacturing and Tourism, Agriculture and Infrastructural Development, it is
critical that all sectors contribute to achieve the objectives outlined.
To make the PGDP a success we need the necessary skills to support the
development of infrastructure. Noting the decline in the number of graduates in
the engineering field over the past five years, institutions of higher learning
must develop the capacity to increase the output of competent entrants to the
labour market and business must be able to absorb such competencies. The
implementation of learnerships in all PGDP objectives will provide us with the
necessary competence that possesses both theoretical knowledge and practical
experience. Full time employment for new entrants to the labour market will
increase and we will address both poverty and job creation. As pointed out the
majority of unemployed are youth without a qualification, the implementation of
learnerships will develop this low skills pool to an intermediate level where
their skills can be in demand and where better opportunities exist to create
new ventures.
Public institutions must thus position themselves to be the main providers
of learnerships and businesses must utilise this capacity to invest in our
youth to create jobs and to break the cycle of poverty and under development.
The PGDP will only be a success if we develop our high level skills and
research and development capacity. It is this level of skills in our province
that innovates and will sustain our advantage in the manufacturing,
telecommunications and related industries. The provision of bursaries for
students to achieve a basic degree, conduct research and achieve academic
excellence is thus the responsibility of government, the private sector and
institutions. Currently the provincial administration is making more than R12m
per available for the development of these skills and hope that the private
sector will regard this as an important investment. These students will be the
captains of industry in the next 10 years.
We thus need to ensure that we strengthen the provision of Universal Primary
Education, providing access to early childhood development to all learners
entering the schooling system, eliminate truancy and ensure completion and
attainment of a General Education Qualification.
We further need to build the capacity of Further Education and Training
(FET) Colleges to provide a variety of economically relevant programmes that
will develop the skills base of our youth and adults to an intermediate level.
This will put our Province well on the way to achieve economic growth, address
jobs and eliminate poverty.
Together with our partners here convened, we need to develop a provincial
Human Resource Development (HRD) Plan that will target skills development and
co-ordinate the contribution of each sector in skills development. Critical
will be the development of skills to drive the PGDP projects in Agrarian
Transformation, Infrastructural development, Tourism and Manufacturing. Let us
use our collective efforts towards the attainment of our agreements in the Jobs
Summit and the realisation of the PGDP.
The Office of the Premier will provide the Secretarial Services to the newly
established Skills Development Co-ordinating Forum that you must establish to
drive skills development. Government departments will support the Sectoral Fora
to ensure that we have a common plan and take collectively responsibility to
grow our Province, especially in the key PGDP Sectors. My office will present
tomorrow the Structural Arrangements to improve our co-ordination of skills
development. Let us bring our efforts, knowledge and passion into one plan that
can transform our Province.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
21 February 2006
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za/)
