National Youth Policy fails to champion real Youth Wage Subsidy

10 June 2015

The DA is disappointed that the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2015-2020 fails to champion a real Youth Wage Subsidy and other business-friendly proposals that would expand opportunities for young jobseekers.

This morning, the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation was briefed on the NYP, which was adopted by Cabinet ahead of Youth Month.  

Most of its proposals on job creation and skills development are statist and interventionist. They will do little to dent our youth unemployment rate of 36% or provide opportunities for youth who account for 67% of the unemployed.

For example, the NYP trumpets public employment schemes in the form of “youth brigades”, a state-run“mass youth enterprise creation programme”, continued support for the hopeless state-funded National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), and a variety of measures that are likely to undermine job-creating economic growth.

The NYP will now be translated into a Youth Development Strategy, so that it can be rolled out.

The DA believes that, rather than adopting a statist approach, the strategy should prioritise a concrete, measurable, and time-bound plan to promote jobs and expand opportunities for youth by:

- Introducing a real Youth Wage Subsidy, not tinkering with the watered-down Employment Tax Incentive (ETI); and

- Creating incentives for (rather than imposing penalties on) the private sector to take on first time-employees and get more involved in skills development and training.

As we celebrate Youth Month, we owe it to the youth to get them working through workable solutions to youth unemployment.

Statement issued by Dr Michael Cardo MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister in the Presidency, June 10 2015