Source: President of South Africa –
Headline: President Ramaphosa to launch the Youth Employment Service initiative
President Cyril Ramaphosa will launch the Youth Employment Service (YES) tomorrow, Tuesday, 27 March 2018, at the Riverside Incubation Hub in Fourways, Johannesburg.
The YES initiative aims to see more than one million young South Africans being offered paid work experience over the next three years, as part of placing the needs of and opportunities for young people at the centre of inclusive economic growth.
The initiative takes the form of a partnership – led by President Cyril Ramaphosa – between government, business, labour and civil society.
The programme has three channels through which employment opportunities can occur:
• Corporate work experiences: businesses that participate in the programme create one-year paid positions for youth aged between 18 and 35, in addition to these organisations’ current employment numbers, YES is additive;
• SMME host placements: businesses that do not have the capacity to place more people in their organisations, have the option of sponsoring the salary for a one-year placement in small and medium enterprises (in year one for 7 to 10 months); and
• SMME development: young people are empowered to start and grow their own businesses, with support from YES in the form of training, seed funding and value-chain integration.
Research has shown that one year of work experience, coupled with a CV and reference letter, increases a young person’s chances of finding employment by three times.
At tomorrow’s launch, President Ramaphosa will meet the first 100 young people to participate in this programme.
Members of the media are invited as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Time: 08h00
Venue: Riverside Incubation Hub 12-8 Incubation Drive, Riverside View Ext 15, Fourways, Midrand, 2021
RSVP: Terrence Manase – 082 338 6707
Enquiries: Khusela Diko – 072 854 5707
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria