Programme Director
Premier of the province; Honourable Senzo Mchunu
Members of the Executive Council here present
Your Worship, the Mayors here present
Honourable Councillors
Leaders of our Social Partners; Organised Labour, Business and Community Formations
Senior government officials
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I am indeed honoured to stand here before you today on a grand occasion, that is yet another testimony, another milestone in the developmental agenda and the history of our beloved country. It is proper and befitting that we are gathered in this fashion in this momentous year where we also celebrate 20 years of our hard earned freedom and democracy.
Perhaps much more significantly is the fact that we are gathered here on the eve of the first anniversary of the passing of the first president of a democratic South Africa and the father of our nation uTata u Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela. This places an added responsibility on each of us to work that much harder to emulate what he stood for, to make South Africa a better place for all of us.
Programme Director; The Labour Market of any country is by and large shaped by the state of its economy among other things whilst on the other hand, the labour market mirrors the state of the economy with very few exceptions. Our economy was traditionally rooted in the primary sectors driven by the wealth of mineral resources and favourable agricultural conditions in the country. But since the mid-90s, economic growth has been driven mainly by the tertiary sector - which includes wholesale and retail trade, tourism and communications. Now South Africa is moving towards becoming a knowledge-based economy, with a greater focus on technology, e-commerce, financial and other services.
Ladies and gentlemen; Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty, whilst not unique to South Africa, remain the biggest challenges of our time. Findings from the Poverty Trends in South Africa report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) recently, showed a strong link between increased level of education and decreased levels of poverty. In 2011, two-thirds of those who had no education were living in poverty. This decreased to 60% for those who had some primary, and 55% for those who had completed primary school. The level dropped to 44% for those who had some secondary schooling, and dropped even further to 23,6% for those who had completed matric.
Only one in 20 people who had some form of higher education were living in poverty in 2011.
A higher level of education does not, however, cushion individuals from the impact of economics, as demonstrated by the fact that in 2009, in the midst of the global recession, 1 in 10 people with some form of higher education were living in poverty.
In South Africa, the unemployment rate of 15-24 year olds with primary education or less is 50%; for those with tertiary level education, the unemployment rate is 37%. The situation is different for those aged 25+; 20% of this group who have primary education are unemployed, while only 7% of those with tertiary level education are unemployed. Having said that; Education alone cannot eradicate poverty; rather, education coupled with greater job opportunities in the economy will be the roadmap out of poverty.
Compatriots and Friends; Two key factors stand out from this analysis; Firstly, education enhances the prospects of avoiding the poverty trap and Secondly, skills must target and match growth sectors of the economy that is demand side versus supply side. Evidence is abundant of cases where Graduates can’t get jobs and those that do, those jobs are often not in line with what they studied. It is not unusual to find a Graduate on social sciences working as a shelf packer in a supermarket these days.
The mining sector employs over 500 000 workers and the large number of them fall in the lower grades and are paid menial wages. In part, this is as a consequence of workers not having had the opportunities for education and training.
Lately some senior executive even went to an extent of using education or lack thereof, as justification for the obscene wage gap between the executive and the lowest paid workers. If these statistics are to be believed, it follows therefore that the Mining, sector like other sectors, can make a huge impact in contributing towards employability of our young people by taking an active part in education and training initiatives of its employees and their off springs and that of the broader society.
Employment in the private sector has declined while public sector employment has grown. Since the first quarter of 2008, the public sector has added 314,000 jobs, while the private sector has lost 268,000 jobs. Interestingly, the overall, data shows that the public sector is creating jobs, while jobs in the private sector are shrinking. This is indeed a striking revelation. A renowned economist remarked recently that whilst public and private partnerships are desirable, empirical evidence shows that Government tends to do better when marching alone.
Programme Director; research has shown that transport is the second largest consumer item on the household budget. It is estimated that at least one out of every six Rand spent, goes towards transport, therefore bringing services closer to the people would go a long way in mitigating these costs.
It is partly in this regard that the Department of Labour has introduced the Employment Services Act 4 of 2014. The Act establishes Public Employment Services which will be free to both employers and potential job seekers. The establishment of the free public employment services will facilitate access to employment opportunities to those job seekers that cannot afford the fees charged by private agencies. The department will establish a single register of all job seekers so that they can be matched to opportunities presented by both employers and government employment schemes.
In the last financial year, approximately 620,000 work seekers registered as work seekers with the public employment services section, whilst employers registered more than 200,000 work opportunities.
The Act will go a long way in terms of strengthening the Department’s employment services functions and assist job seekers to access employment and training opportunities. The establishment of the free public employment services is aimed at tackling the high rate of unemployment in our country especially amongst the youth.
As a department we shall collaborate with all legitimate, registered agencies in order to increase access to work opportunities. Establishment of the free public employment service will also help to improve access to those job seekers that cannot afford the fees charged by private agencies. With the promulgation of the Employment Services Act 4 of 2014, it will be illegal for job seekers to be charged for placement services. It is for these reasons that it is important for work seekers to register with the department.
The Public Employment Services will provide, inter alia the following services;
- Job placement assistance including registration and matching services for placement in the formal sector.
- Internships for Graduates.
- Job employability enhancement
- Employment counselling.
- Career information and self-help career guidance.
- Referral to training opportunities and public works programmes.
- Target public sector and state owned enterprises for placement opportunities for young people
In addition to these initiatives the department Ladies and Gentlemen; will pursue various approaches to enhance youth employment opportunities and these include, but not limited to:
- promoting experimental ways of providing young people with mentoring, training opportunities, linkages to the labour market and useful work experience
- identifying projects where young people in schools, spend time in places of work, to get a sense of what a working environment is like and get early exposure to possible career opportunities
- identifying and supporting programmes that take school learners for holiday jobs, helping some to work their way up into the system and find viable career paths.
- entering into well targeted partnerships with Public and Private sectors to enhance employment and training opportunities for the young people.
- enhancing employability of young people for employment opportunities within the Department of Labour by enrolling them into the real working environment in the department.
- hosting Jobs Fairs cum Job Exhibitions where both public and private sector come and showcase career and employment opportunities in their entities where young people and the unemployed can be encouraged to apply.
This will be similar to the olden day’s practices when employers used to visit learning institutions, army bases, and so on, to exhibit career opportunities with the purpose of recruiting young people into job opportunities.
Programme Director; Today we are here to launch the self-help kiosk as part of bringing services to the people. Research has shown that many job seekers struggle to get access to work opportunities, because they do not have the funds, have poor networks and lack social skills to be able to approach those that can assist.
Word of mouth or tips by employees and family members remain a predominant method of how work-seekers get introduced to the world of work. Young people who live in poor neighbourhoods with dysfunctional schools and little support are worse off.
They have little, if any, access, to social networks that could link them to job opportunities with their contemporaries, and their parents are likely to have been unemployed themselves for substantial periods of time. They struggle to access appropriate training opportunities to improve their employability, or set up their own businesses.
Ladies and gentlemen the number of cell phones in South Africa surpasses the number of people living here. On average, every one of approximately 51 million South Africans (babies included) has 1.17 (or so) cell phones.
Those are the averages; in real terms, some have several handsets, some none, though the latter group is diminishing daily. Use of cell phones in South Africa has increased enormously during one decade, according to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, from the year 2000 to 2010 cell phone use amongst adults went from 17% to 76%. That is a dramatic increase by any stretch of the imagination. Besides calling and talking to people, South Africans use their cell phones to send text messages, access social media sites, chat with a group of friends on one of instant messaging services, and browse the internet.
Due to high cost of personal computers and poor coverage with fixed communication lines, cell phones have become the basic necessity. They are seen as the tool to bridge the digital divide between the rich and the poor and become an enabler of note.
Programme Director it is a fact of life that mobile phones are the dominant communication technology among low-income users and informal businesses; in 2012, about three quarters of low-income South Africans, in rural and in urban areas, possessed a cell phone. It has also been reported that a number of metropolitan areas have introduced free access to Wi-Fi connectivity in their areas, as another way of enabling easy access to internet.
What can be deduced from this is that the majority South Africans would be sophisticated enough to use an online service to load their CVs and check if there is any match to existing job opportunities on the data base.
It is for this reasons that the department took a conscious decision to establish self-help kiosks at Labour centres. When the system is running at its full capacity, a work seeker can walk into the Labour, centre with barely any assistance, load his or her CV and in real time, get feedback about the exact location and the name of the employer who is looking for someone with the same profile. They can also apply for their unemployment benefits using the system and also access the services of the Compensation Fund.
As a department we call upon provincial governments, district and local municipalities, traditional councils, civic organisations, employers, labour movements, and registered private employment agencies, to unite in promoting practices that will assist the unemployed, particularly the youth, in order for them to access employment opportunities. This will enhance social cohesion and help to build societies and communities we can be proud of as nation.
Placing an individual in a job does not only fulfil the financial and emotional well-being of that individual, but more importantly it contributes significantly to the edification of the moral fibre, peace and stability in our society at large.
The struggle to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment in our own country is fundamental to the achievement of our own national goal to build a caring and people-centred society.
Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen I am convinced that the establishment and the launch of the Richards bay Kiosk here today will make a meaningful contribution to assisting our citizens in search of employment opportunities. This is just but one of many programmes and innovations where, as government together with our social partners, have placed our shoulder to the wheel, to ensure that South Africa grinds to a better and brighter future. This is the least we could do as a people to honour the legacy of our founding president Nelson Mandela, and all those gallant men and women who sacrificed so that this generation and those still to come may enjoy these rights and freedoms.
As 2014 draws to a close, it is time to spend quality time with our loved ones and in so doing reflect on the year that was, and come back energised and focussed in the new year.
Let me also take this opportunity to wish you, your families and those dearest to your hearts, a wonderful, safe festive season and a prosperous new year.
Together let’s move South Africa forward
I thank you.
