Content creator economy boom not enough to solve youth unemployment crisis - Mlambo-Ngcuka

JOHANNESBURG - Former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said the content creator economy boom was not enough to solve the youth unemployment crisis, as young global leaders meet in Ekurhuleni to discuss policy.

Mlambo-Ngcuka made the comments on the first day of the Y20 Summit on Monday, where she was among high-level delegates meeting at the G20-linked event.

Part of the agenda at the five-day summit is addressing the stubbornly high youth unemployment, especially in developing countries.

South Africa’s youth unemployment is at a staggering 46% - among the highest in the world.

But Mlambo-Ngcuka said that content creation and influencing was not the silver lining if it comes at the expense of skills development.

"We can't all be influencers, we can’t all be creators of content and taking pictures of ourselves. We really have to produce products that address our health, that address our construction, our infrastructure, that care for those who need for us to care for them. Let’s take it a notch higher in terms of the seriousness and the impact it will make in our economies."

But deputy minister of women and youth, Steve Letsike, said it’s unfair to downplay the impact of content creation.

"It’s also one of the economies, so let’s not shy away from it. It’s worth billions, if not trillions in the creative sector. We have minimised so much what the creative sector looks like, we think the creative sector ends with social media, it’s not."

The value that social media influencers add into the economy of this country is currently estimated at R500 million, with an expectation that in the next five years it could reach R1 billion.