Youths participate in a march for peace at the close of the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students in Pretoria, Tuesday, 21 December 2010. Picture: SAPA stringer Youths participate in a march for peace at the close of the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students in Pretoria, Tuesday, 21 December 2010. Picture: SAPA stringer
People older than 40 have been receiving youth wage subsidies from the provincial government over the past four years.
The youth wage subsidy, which caters specifically for people aged between 19 and 35, is aimed at making them more employable through its at-work training programme that involves internships and placements in various industries.
It pays R1 500 a month over six months.
The DA has used the Western Cape’s youth wage subsidy as an election campaign tool and promised to implement it in Gauteng if it were to win the 2014 provincial elections there.
But, according to its own records, there are 88 people who have received youth wage subsidies even though they don’t qualify.
Asked about this anomaly, Rahima Loghdey, head of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism’s work and skills programme, said they were aware that there were some people who had received subsidies despite not meeting the criteria.
Loghdey said in the case of these 88 interns, they had disregarded the criteria because most of them were from female-headed households and lived in rural areas, among other things.
They had also overlooked the criteria because in some cases the employers had specific interns in mind that they wanted to employ.
The government’s records show that 52 of these interns live in Cape Town, while 21 live in the Overberg, seven on the West Coast, six in the Winelands and two in the Central Karoo.
Female interns outnumbered male interns by 16.
Twenty-eight were placed at NGOs while 21 were placed in the textile industry.
The older interns were also more likely to retain their jobs.
Altogether, 58 interns were employed after the internship ended while 18 had to find other work.
Four dropped out, and eight are still on their internship at a Chinese electronics company, where they are employed as general workers.
So far, the provincial government has placed 4 065 people at 398 companies.
Twenty companies took on 50 percent of the interns.
The department’s records show:
- Prestige Clothing in Maitland and Caledon took on the biggest number of interns – 325.
- The Department of Social Development took on 288 interns
- Shoprite took on 266 interns.
On the whole, 62 percent, or 2504, of the interns were trained either as general assistants, administration clerks, general workers, assistants or assistants to machinists or cleaners.
Nearly half (1 938) of the interns stayed on in their jobs after the government stopped subsidising their salaries.
Interns in the Winelands were the most likely to keep their jobs compared to interns in the four other district municipalities and the City of Cape Town. In the Boland 65 percent (302) kept their jobs.
These workers were employed either as general assistants, packers or wine stewards, while the municipality employed data capturers.
According to the census, the Winelands had the lowest unemployment rate (18 percent) among people between 18 and 35 years old.
The City of Cape Town had the highest unemployment rate of 31 percent, followed by Central Karoo (30 percent) and Eden (29 percent).
In the Eden District Municipality only 26 percent of interns kept their jobs after the six months – the lowest job retention of all regions, where four out of every 10 interns left the programme before their six months ended.
On the whole 641 workers have dropped out of the programme since 2009.
Out of all industries, the textile sector retained 65 percent (222) of its interns after the subsidy ended – more than any other industry.
The tourism industry retained 63 percent (87) of its interns, while the outsourcing industry (BPO) kept 62 percent. Most of these interns worked at call centres.
ANC economic spokeswoman MPL Carol Beerwinkel said she was concerned about the kind of training the government offered through the programme and whether big businesses were the only ones that benefited. - Cape Times