Accelerating Inclusive Youth Employment in support of the NDP: Conference Concept Note

Transcription

1 Accelerating Inclusive Youth Employment in support of the NDP: Conference Concept Note Theme of the Conference Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflections (MISTRA), the National Planning Commission and Yellowwoods (Business Leadership South Africa member and founder of Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator) are jointly convening a multi-stakeholder conference to mobilise, align and accelerate efforts to drive inclusive youth employment in support of the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP). The proposed theme for the conference is accelerating inclusive youth employment. The conference theme is aligned to the goals of the National Development Plan. Background Young people face high unemployment rates worldwide and integrating them into the labour market is a concern in many countries. The problem in SA is acute as significantly large numbers of young people have not been able to break into the labour market. The country has a very high rate of youth unemployment and over 62.4% of year olds in the workforce are unemployed. Current research confirms that 31% of South Africans in the age range 17 to 24 years are not in education, training or employment. The absolute magnitude of youth unemployment differentiates youth unemployment in SA with many other countries. The problem of youth unemployment has its roots in many areas. There are macro-economic reasons, such as the structure of the economy, availability of jobs, and other issues such as employers attitudes towards hiring young people, young people s attitudes towards work, reservation wages etc. that affects youth unemployment. It is however, also accepted that the problem of unemployment and youth unemployment in particular is intrinsically linked to the problems of the school sector. For many young people, poor and low levels of education and training are the major contributor to poor labour market prospects. The support for young people as they transit from school to work is critical for individual success. 1

2 Rationale of the conference Understanding and responding to the demand and supply factors that impact on young people s entry into employment is critical to addressing youth unemployment. There is little doubt that fixing the education system will be key to the long term solution. However in the meantime there are millions of young people between the ages of who need special support to get a leg up. The NPC diagnostic, pointed out that 7% of those born in 1990 achieved the equivalent of a 50%+ matric pass by This means that the majority of school leavers lack the most basic capabilities needed to succeed in further education and in employment. This makes transitions costly and makes it difficult. In addition to poor preparation from education, many young people lack soft skills which are identified by employers as critical for job success. Many employers maintain that they would prefer an experienced person over someone with no job skills, yet many young people are new to working and have no previous work experience. To ease young people s transition to the work place, strategies and programmes involving job-readiness training, vocational guidance and support for workseekers are needed, particularly for poor and marginalised young people who are excluded due to geographic, socio-economic and cultural divides. Employers often struggle to find, recruit and retain entry level employees the cost of which is massive for business. On the other hand, young first-time workseekers, particularly those from poor households with limited networks to the formal economy, struggle to identify, access and secure these opportunities in the formal sector. There is a growing community of innovators in this area and some of these organisations have proven it is possible to accelerate access for disadvantaged 2

3 young people to full time formal sector employment by matching them to available jobs in the economy and preparing first time work seekers to succeed and raise the probability of success in post school education and employment. However, these services run on a small scale. Key to the success of such initiatives has been the focus on understanding of and responsiveness to both the supply and demand sides of the employment market. For young work seekers, it is essential to effectively address the access barriers, and behavioural and competence gaps that keep them locked in unemployment and poverty. Many have great potential and attributes for success, but do not have the financial means or social networks, or the numerical and English literacy levels required by employers, and the personal and behavioural readiness to succeed in the world of work. At the same time, employers across many sectors have challenges finding work-ready candidates to fill entry level vacancies, and challenges retaining and progressing young employees. There is a need to grow the pool of work-ready, employable young South Africans to support inclusive growth, meet the needs of growing sectors of the economy and of the public service, and the opportunities created by the infrastructure programmes and other industrial and economic development programmes, The conference is meant to act as a catalyst to help identify high impact, scalable approaches. The process would identify ways of scaling up accelerated learning and job linkages in a way that would have a meaningful impact on youth and on supporting inclusive economic growth.. Objectives of the conference The conference will be both a learning exchange and a call to action to accelerate and scale up initiatives that are working. It will provide leaders from the public and private sectors with the opportunity to discuss challenges and solutions, cement collaboration and to expedite and scale initiatives and actions, that increase the absorption and retention of young, first time work-seekers into the formal economy, and grow the work-ready pool for both private and public sector employers, spurring inclusive growth and development. It specifically aims to: 3

4 Highlight the barriers to employability of young people and share insights on possible mitigating interventions; Highlight challenges faced by employers across a diverse set of sectors, both public and private the private and public sectors in absorbing and retaining young first-time work seekers, and share insights on key drivers for success; Showcase and share learnings from successful programmes that are demonstrating success on scale, successfully bridging young people into employment, and growing the work-ready pool for employers; Discuss key mechanisms for creating pipelines of talent in targeted sectors in the economy, based on demand side needs. Facilitate a "call to action" to both government and the private sector to collaborate to accelerate and scale successful initiatives aimed at getting first time work seekers into work; Consider sectoral initiatives and mechanisms to accelerate jobs for young first time work seekers in these employment sectors; Secure key role players commitment to scaling and accelerating inclusive youth employment; Discuss and explore mechanisms to massify and institutionalize successful models, to further enable bridging of demand and supply, and for working across the private and public sectors, to drive and accelerate inclusive youth employment and inclusive growth. Explore policy level interventions, strategies and programmes Structure of the conference The conference will have plenary sessions in the beginning and at the end of the conference and break-away parallel sessions in the middle. Each break out session will explore a sub-theme which will focus on issues of concern, identify specific opportunities and challenges and 2-3 succinct recommendations for innovative action. Suggested themes tba divided by days 4

5 Theme 1 Overview of youth labour market transitions plenary Understanding youth transitions: why do young people have poor labour market prospects in SA? Early school leavers and their transition difficulties Graduates and their transition difficulties Theme 2 Breaking through employment barriers: Can we make up for the education and training failures in the labour market? What works in youth transitions? the skills (life skills; technical and vocational skills; employability skills) the opportunities (job placements for youth; internships; social and economic entrepreneurial schemes) barriers to employment as well as challenges in terms of access to employment opportunities, deriving from non-inclusive practices Theme 3 Policy interventions -labour market activation- addressing school to work transitions and informal employment what are the policy responses and options toward improved labour market transitions of young people assessment of the legislation and policies in place highlight of promising initiatives identify gaps and possible areas of intervention from policy perspective Theme 4 Targeted demand side initiatives to accelerate opportunities for young, first time work entrants Digital jobs and international business process outsourcing opportunities Retail and hospitality opportunities Technical, maintenance and infrastructure development opportunities Small and medium sized enterprise opportunities 5

6 Expected outcomes Tbc- reflect based on programme Processes Leading Up to the Conference [Mindful of the now 7 weeks leading up to the event, we may need to be realistic about what is possible before the conference, versus opportunities after the conference for publication and for commissioning further research.] Call for abstracts/papers/success stories/case studies/videos/photo collages. Commissioned papers and reports on the main themes; policy, approaches and learning networks/institutional arrangements, etc Profile of participants Conference participants ( in total) will include leaders and practitioners from across private and public sector employers, employment services agencies, youth development and work-seeker support organisations and educational institutions, research and labour market specialists as well as business and government leaders and policy makers. Date and venue of conference The proposed date for the conference is Sept The conference will take place at the Spier Conference Centre in Stellenbosch. Yellowwoods has agreed to fund the conference including the conference facilities and accommodation (for the night of the 8 th ), and meals for participants. Participants will need to cover their own travel costs to get to the conference. The Deputy President will be invited and requested to open the conference and provide a call-to-action both from the Presidency and in his capacity as the Chairperson of the National Planning Commission. The opening address will serve to frame, guide and spur the inclusive employment initiatives and build on the social compacting/partnerships in action, between social partners, that are working to implement the NDP. Yellowwoods/Harambee will also host two events: a Human Capital Directors breakfast as well as a formal dinner on the evening of the 8 th September for all conference participants. The dinner will be an opportunity to celebrate and thank all those involved in the journey to achieving Harambee s

7 placements including the many employers, organisations, funders and people that collaborated in different ways to deliver this result. Along with business and other leaders, Minister of Finance Minister Nene, will be invited to address the dinner, given the key role of the Jobs Fund in catalysing and supporting the Harambee initiative. 7