A Department of Labour Youth Symposium has taken a series of wide ranging resolutions aimed at boosting entrepreneurship and job creation among the youth to enable them to participate fully in the economy.
The meeting identified Information Communication Technology as the key to unlocking blockages existing in the labour market structure.
The event, attended by just over 100 youths from the department and its entities in Bela Bela- Limpopo, emphasised that it was about time the youth of the country was allowed to occupy its rightful place.
Statistics bandied about at the symposium said of the 4.5 million unemployed people in South Africa, 3.2 million come from the youth.
According to the International Labour Organisation, up to 75 million youth worldwide are without jobs.
Resolutions taken include the critical need for education and training to be aligned to the needs of the labour market. The meeting further said there was need for the strengthening of apprenticeships for young people with low skills or low education.
Turning to the support for rural areas, the symposium resolved that programmes for providing resources (bursaries) to disadvantaged youth should start immediately.
The meeting said the employment services system should be linked with cellphones-thereby taking full advantage of social media.
On entrepreneurship, the meeting said programmes like youth co-operatives should embarked upon. Delegates said there was need for rigorous training for youth in the area of entrepreneurship to enable them to run their own businesses and therefore contribute to job creation.
The symposium further said that there was for partnerships with various stakeholders to give meaning to efforts to create employment for the youth.
Equally important, the meeting said there was a dire requirement to make the public employment services more relevant and able to compete with its competitors in the labour market.
Lerato Molebatsi, Deputy Director General: Corporate Services said “Categorically, the department should note that after the symposium, the 2 800 youth employed by the department will expect to be taken seriously and their relevance to achieving the departmental goals realised.
The young people of this department will expect that funding should be made available for sports, training and career development, youth self-development resource centre through chat rooms and supervisorial development often includes conducting management skills”.
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Department of Labour’s youth summit comes up with revolutionary challenges
