Youth unemployment in South Africa: A crisis needing urgent action

The continued youth unemployment in South Africa is becoming a crisis and the government has not been adequately proactive in implementing measures to curb these ratios.

2024 statistics have been bordering close to under 50% and this has been the trend in the last few years. In the first quarter of 2025, the ratio recorded was over 60%. Between the years of 2014 and 2024, youth unemployment increased from 39% to approximately over 60%.

The need to educate our youth with appropriate skills and knowledge has become an urgent economic measure, yet there have been 21 SETAS put in place to address this need. The SETAS were established in the year 2000 and 25 years later we still struggle with the same challenges that we had at the outset.

Initially, the launch introduced 25 SETAS which were then streamlined into 21. This was in alignment with the Skills Development Act of 1998. The big intended impact was to bridge the gap between the identified skills required and the correct related training facilitation.

This was supposed to be achieved through work-based learning opportunities that were intended to teach and groom South Africa’s youth. The primary challenge has been and still is whether the correct scarce skill developmental needs have been identified and if the programs have been effective.

Since the launch in 2000, the SETAS have been criticised for various inadequacies, such as lack of proper implementation processes as well as governance issues. Some of these issues are not only challenges within government structures but also private corporations as well as various non- governmental industries as a result the ideal objectives are yet to be achieved all these years later.

Journalists have recently reported incidents of youth who have shared their personal experiences of being involved in one of the many SETA programs. Some SETA-funded trainees have successfully completed their training programs and remain unemployed.

In addition, other trainees have indicated that the stipulated program/work-based learning opportunity does not always allow them to learn the appropriate skills that are aligned to the certificate or the program title.

Sometimes, the learnerships move the trainees around from sector to sector in one industry and this has hindered the trainees from developing a specific and niche area skill.

The work-based learning opportunity should ideally facilitate an expertise skill in one niche area. In other instances, trainees do not have the full experience that they are promised. They end up gaining only partial experience relevant to their certification. These trainees feel very cheated about a proper training experience.

In 2013 and 2014, an audit revealed that the SETA performance management systems were dysfunctional and there was no follow up process to determine whether the SETA graduates have been employed post the training completion.

How does one measure success rate without critical information such as this?

The challenge at present is the quality assurance and evaluation analysis of all these work-based learning opportunities. Some SETA trainees have also shared their experiences where their learnership ends abruptly and often without any compensation for the months that they were supposed to be employed.

The financial strains thereafter impact their capacity to spend time and energy to find alternative suitable employment. One female SETA trainee is now a food hawker in central business district of Durban.

The hindrances of corruption play a pivotal role in the SETAS not meeting the desired outcomes. Money misappropriation, embezzlements as well as fraud lurk in every sector and in some cases, money has been allocated for training purposes and the youth are not trained.

The other concern is that the SETAS are not aligned with global market demand labour forces. The onset of the 5th Industrial revolution and the utilisation of Artificial Intelligence have also reshaped the skills required for employable people.

The SETAs need to urgently reassess if their training programs are on the verge of redundancy and if they are equipped to skill young South Africans to engage in employment with international corporations.

We need to regularly reassess and identify what the required skills are and then align them to the economic needs of South Africa. Unfortunately, this process is not being conducted regularly or very accurately as well.

A new pace of assessment of SETA skills and the country’s required skills need to be determined in order for us to address high youth unemployment appropriately. The regulations around SETA programs also need to be re assessed, as SETAS need to be focused on the imparting of skills and knowledge that is appropriate to workforce sectors.

The regulations can become hindrances for private sectors to consider contributing towards training South African youth.

Twenty-five years later and yet there are similar trajectories that we experienced when the SETAS were established.

An external audit needs to be implemented to ensure that these SETAS follow conduct of good governance. Youth unemployment needs urgent focus.

*The opinions expressed in this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.

DAILY NEWS