Economic Opportunities

(a) Table 1 below captures the number of unemployed youths in Province, within the age group 15 to 34 years for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and including the third quarter of 2014. The data is not presented in financial years but in annual years as published by StasSA QLFS with calculations by IHS.

Table 1: Western Cape number of unemployed by age group 2008 -2014

Total Unemployed Population
	15 to 24	25 to 35	Total
2009	173 102	214 957	388 059
2010	182 079	211 925	394 004
2011	178 677	228 982	407 659
2012	185 789	242 362	428 151
2013	184 728	240 677	425 405
2014	202 690	229 005	431 695

Source: StatsSA QLFS with calculations by IHS.

(b) The inability of the economy to absorb youth into employment can be attributed to a number of structural changes to the economy.  Evidence, indicates that the lack of skills acts as a barrier for youth entry into employment.  It has also been found that youth are using outdated and ineffective job search methods, which can partially be attributed to a lack of social networks and support to access training and up-skilling opportunities. It also appears that some youth are unable to display an appropriate level of interpersonal interaction to “fit in” and keep employment.

Given the multi-faceted barriers to youth entry into the labour market, the WCG has chosen to focus on a key aspect to address this issue. We have identified the area of skills development as one where it could have the greatest impact. The Departments of Economic Development & Tourism and Agriculture, currently implement a number of programmes that are intended to provide skills required by the economy. These programmes are briefly outlined in the sections below.

Artisan Development Programme:

Addressing the more pressing skills requirements of industry in order to have the requisite impact on the skills landscape, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Industry, together with the national departments of Labour, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Higher Education, the Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (SETA’s), the provincial departments of Local Government, Education and Social Development; and the District municipalities with its local municipalities; the South African Oil and Gas Alliance and the Saldanha IDZ Licensing Company will be focussed on the training and placement of trainee artisan candidates.

Over the past two years placement for 200 interns has been facilitated for 18 months with various companies. The project aims to prepare learners to access National Trade Test in 2015/16. Funding of R11.6m has been leveraged from MERSETA towards the artisan placement programme.  One-hundred-and-five coaches/mentors have been trained to support interns in workplaces. DEDAT will monitor coaches as part of the learner placement phase.

A Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Project been initiated with the Department of Health, ARMSCOR, Imperial, Northlink FET College, Cape Town College, MERSETA, LGSETA, CHIETA, City of Cape Town, SAOGA. The project aims to pilot a joint approach to RPL to link to NAMB’s (National Artisan Moderation Body) RPL project. RPL tools kits will be developed in line with the NAMB tool kits and 30 – 40 candidates will be selected from the above stakeholders. All information will be shared with NAMB for further development or consolidation.

Work and Skills:

The Work and Skills Programme creates learning and work placement opportunities for unemployed youth in the Western Cape’s economic sectors in order to improve the future employment prospects of participants, between the ages of 18-34 years. This 6 month placement opportunity is coupled with technical and soft skills training in the context of work experience. The Work and Skills Programme places mostly first time entrants with host companies and offers an exit strategy to learners who successfully complete the programme.

Oil and Gas:

Other than the work and skills programme, there are also skills development programmes within economic sectors that are considered propulsive for economic growth. The WCG in partnership with a number of its Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) is driving skills development within these sectors.

The South African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA), is in discussions with UWC, UCT, CPUT and other local and global players with the view of developing industry led Oil and Gas courses.

SAOGA is also actively engaging industry, the FET sector, the Quality Council for Trade and Occupation (QCTO) and SETA’s on developing industry led qualifications and short courses for the sector.

SAOGA has recently launched a Marine, Oil and Gas Academy (MOGA). It facilitates the coordination of the various skills initiatives from industry, government and training by allowing participants to highlight their initiatives.

BPO :

Within the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, there are various skills initiatives to address the skills demands of industry. The team leader development project is currently underway. A partnership has been struck with Sanlam that will result in 15 unemployed graduates receiving formal BPO team leader training, as well as 12 months’ work experience in a live call centre environment.

BPeSA Western Cape launched an online skills portal that will allow training providers to match their offerings with the various competency requirements of the job types in the industry.

ICT :

A skills plan is currently being developed for the ICT sector, although there are a range of initiatives to drive relevant supply in this sector. A PGDip in Software Development has been developed in partnership with UCT.

The CAPACITI 1000, a Business Analyst Training course, is taking 130 unemployed graduates (primarily) and upskilling/ reskilling them in ICT skills demanded by industry.

Tourism:

The Tourism unit in partnership with key stakeholders in the Tourism sector is facilitating training and workplace opportunities to address the skills gap in this industry through:

• Ensuring co-ordination between all education and training institutions and the private sector.
• Programmes for educators at the high school and FET colleges to upskill their knowledge, experience and understanding of the industry.
• Facilitating placement opportunities for learners who have completed their certificate/ qualifications.

Catalytic Projects:

Government also plays a catalytic role in stimulating the demand for skills development. Government has some ability to drive supply such that it both ensures that the skills (and experience) available within a community is aligned to demand, and further ensures that this supply of skills in turn stimulates further demand. 

This is achieved through the development of appropriate skills for strategic projects, which amongst others include: Broad Band, Information and Communications, the Saldanha Industrial Development Zone, Infrastructure, Agriculture, the Design Sector, the Green Economy, the Strategic Infrastructure Programmes (SIP 5 and 8), Cape Health Technology Park. The development of appropriate skill sets will proactively support and anticipate future demand for skill sets as industry would require. This approach will further align itself to a differentiated approach and be supported by strong regional or spatial considerations in determining the skills offering by training providers.

Supporting Projects:

There are also a number of supporting projects that are currently being implemented that are focused on developing skills among the youth.

Design Skills:

The Premier’s Council on Skills was held on 18 September 2013 with a focus on Design. The intention of the session was to raise awareness as to how design can be applied to organisational processes, and in so doing, making them more competitive. A Human Capital Forum was established and the first HRD Forum meeting was held on 08 November, with approximately 40 participants from the industry attending and contributing to identifying the critical skills issues that need addressing in the Design Sector.

West Coast Skills Plan:

In addressing the more pressing skills requirements of West Coast industry and to have the requisite impact on the skills landscape, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Industry, together with the national departments of Labour, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Higher Education, the Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (SETA’s), the provincial departments of Local Government, Education and Social Development; and the District municipalities with its local municipalities; the South African Oil and Gas Alliance and the Saldanha IDZ Licensing Company have all embarked on recruiting 1000 youth to be trained in the artisanal and associated occupations. The target group for this programme specifically focuses on individuals aged 18-35.

Initiatives for skills development:

Greater co-ordination amongst skills development stakeholders allows for improved planning and co-ordinated implementation of skills programmes, enabling enhanced impact and sustainable success.  The WCG currently has a number of supporting projects/initiatives aimed at ensuring that the economy has the skills it requires, particularly among the youth.

The development of an e-skills ecosystem to increase reach, capacity and accessibility of skills development interventions utilizing broadband will be a priority.  The ecosystem will consist of four elements:

• A Skills Intelligence Platform to provide a collaboration platform that enables facilitation, collaboration and communication between stakeholders.
• A Learning Management System to provide an e-Learning platform. The LMS is fundamentally a system to facilitating learning via an online learning platform.
• A Career Awareness Platform to assist citizens of The Western Cape to find fulfilling work aligned to their skill ability. This platform will also provide coaching and guidance regarding career awareness and match users to job opportunities.
• The Learning Market will be an online marketplace for online learning content generated by private businesses to create a skills development economy.

Entrepreneurial Skills Development:

The economy needs to create more jobs and the private sector, particularly emerging entrepreneurs, need to be supported in their own skills sets to expand their opportunities. The Provincial Skills Forum therefore will identify ways to navigate and strengthen the skillsets of entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and also drive the implementation of these projects.

Developing skills within the public sector:

Government provides a number of opportunities for external as well as internal staff to attain a skills set that could make them more desirable for employment. Departments across the Western Cape Government are involved in a number of training initiatives, which include pre and in-service training, internal and external skills development initiatives and the placement and employment of bursary beneficiaries and interns.

Conclusion:

The WCG is currently implementing a number of programmes to develop the skills of the unemployed, with a focus on youth, in order that they may be absorbed into the labour market and break the cycle of multi-generational unemployment that is part of our economic landscape. However, given the multi-faceted barriers to entry into the labour market, what we are currently doing aims to complement, not replace, the responses by other stakeholders to the challenge of youth unemployment.