Statistician general Pali Lehohla said 71% of the unemployed were between the ages of 15 and 34 and a total of 3.5m (33.5%) of people bin this age group were unemployed, not in education or in training during the first quarter of this year.
Lehohla blamed teaching for many of the unemployment problems.
"Not having the youth at school perpetuates joblessness. Government has to put more effort into keeping children at school and ensuring teachers teach them," he said.
He said that unemployment will not be eliminated until the education system improves.
"It is not going to happen when teachers are not teaching. It is not going to happen when students pass with a mark of 30%. It is not going to happen when children learn maths literacy instead of mathematics," he said. "It's a pipe dream." he added.
Referring to the youth subsidy scheme, Lehohla said South Africa would be better off with a youth wage subsidy than without it.
"There is a problem of skills, a problem of experience, and a problem of getting into a system," Lehohla said in Johannesburg.
"If this process [youth wage subsidy] solves those three things, I don't know why it poses a problem. It may reduce salaries for those that are working but I think if one looks at the net result for society, having a youth wage subsidy is a much better option for South Africa than not having one," he said.
Lehohla said unskilled and unemployed youth were unlikely to get jobs.
"The only time these people will get [an] income is when they are reach 65 and become social pensioners," he said.
The National Treasury wants to implement the subsidy to encourage employers to hire unemployed young people. The Congress of SA Trade unions is opposed the policy, saying it will not increase employment and will lead to experienced, more expensive workers being fired and replaced by the youth.
Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge
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