I remember a project being launched a number of years ago that targeted the creation of new jobs for unemployed youth and which allowed a participating company to improve their BEE level. Is this project still functioning and how do I become involved?
Youth unemployment has reached record heights and recent statistics indicate that 74.7% of youth are unemployed if you include those youth who have given up trying to find a job entirely. This means that three out of every four employable people under the age of 24 are currently unemployed.
Government has attempted to address this problem and in 2018 the Youth Employment Service (“Y.E.S”) Initiative was launched as an initiative between government, labour, civil society and young people aimed at creating jobs for the youth, with “youth” being defined as persons between the ages of 18 and 35.
The target set at the launch of the initiative was to have one million jobs created for youth within the first three years. Unfortunately, we are already in the fourth year and according to the YES-initiative website, Yes4youth.co.za, only over 54 000 jobs have been created through this initiative to date.
The YES initiative can, however, still play an important role in job creation for the youth and companies need to be made more aware of the potential BEE benefits of participating in this initiative. Companies can enhance their BEE levels by up to two levels if they meet the various requirements and targets. The targets that are set are based on the creation of a certain number of new jobs for youth as well as their absorption at the end of their fixed term agreements.
Companies who are interested in becoming involved can visit the Yes4youth.co.za website to register or alternatively they can speak to their BEE consultant for advice on how to become part of this initiative.