Skill programs alone won't fix unemployment – Youth Capital

Lester Kiewit speaks with Kristal Duncan-Williams, Project Lead at Youth Capital, a campaign advocating for policy change to solve unemployment

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

In the face of South Africa's immense unemployment figures, the Department of Labour is setting up an initiative to create thousands of job opportunities in Gauteng.

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Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi said R8.4 billion has been set aside to implement 105 labour-activation programs over 22 sectors in Gauteng.

This is a part of a R23.8 billion national job-creation plan, hoped to create roughly 700,000 employment opportunities across the country.

The department will partner with private businesses, SETAs and NGOs for the initiative.

However, Duncan-Williams says that one program is not enough to fix the problem.

“If we line the unemployed young people shoulder to shoulder, the line would go from Cape Town to Lagos.”

- Kristal Duncan-Williams, Project Lead at Youth Capital

“In a stagnant economy, where are these jobs coming from?”

- Kristal Duncan-Williams, Project Lead at Youth Capital

“There needs to be a partnership with industry so that when people step out of this program they step into a next opportunity.”

- Kristal Duncan-Williams, Project Lead at Youth Capital

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.