Deputy President Paul Mashatile has urged government, business, and civil society to take “radical” action in addressing South Africa’s unemployment crisis, warning that the situation is most severe among young people who are not in employment, education, or training.

Speaking in his capacity as chairperson of the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Friday, Mashatile welcomed the new Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, while outlining the scale of the country’s jobs crisis.

“We are meeting here today after a harsh reality was revealed by Statistics South Africa that the unemployment rate climbed once again to 33.2%, meaning one-third of the workforce is sitting without a job, the majority of whom are youth, women, and marginalised groups,” he said.

Mashatile stressed that the “crisis of youth unemployment is particularly severe” among the NEET cohort, young people who are not working, studying, or training.

“According to Statistics South Africa’s first-quarter release of 2025, 34% of all youth aged 15 to 24, more than 3.5 million young people, are disconnected from both the labour market and the education system,” he said.

Citing research by the University of Cape Town’s Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, Mashatile said the NEET population reflects entrenched exclusion and fragile transitions.

“Alarmingly, more than half of unemployed youth not in employment, education and training have been searching for work for over a year, underscoring the systemic barriers they face in securing a foothold in the labour market,” he added.

He said the HRDC must play a leading role in addressing these challenges.

“The future of the youth of South Africa is in our hands, and we must be radical in securing it!”

Mashatile called for urgent collaboration across sectors to ensure that education and training align with economic needs.

“We must adopt a proactive stance and address the disparity between labour supply and demand. We must create a labour market that will effectively create employment opportunities for young people, including those with no skills,” he said.

Among the strategies he proposed were:

• Strengthening education and skills development to better match market demand.
• Supporting small businesses and entrepreneurship as drivers of job creation.
• Expanding public employment programmes to absorb young people with limited skills.
• Enhancing workplace-integrated learning and mentorship opportunities through partnerships with business.

Mashatile also welcomed the successful launch of provincial HRDCs in North West and Mpumalanga, saying provincial councils play a vital role in the implementation of the HRD Strategy and achieving our objectives.

On the global stage, Mashatile said South Africa’s role in the G20 Education Working Group would be vital for shaping resilient and inclusive education systems.

“As a host country, we have the chance to support emerging market economies’ objectives while also promoting the African continent’s development agenda within the G20 framework,” he said.

“For us to take our country forward, we must focus on the discipline of execution. We have at this stage mastered the art of policy making; however, some of these policies are not coming alive in the areas where they are needed to transform the lives of South Africans and the youth in particular.”

IOL

Source link