Skills development for the women and youth of South Africa

In the first quarter of 2020, South Africa’s unemployment rate climbed to 30% – the highest it has been since 2008 – as the number of unemployed people increased by 344,000 to an all-time high of 7.1 million.

This is according to Trading Economics, and is based on the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) – which also indicated that employment decreased by 38,000 to 16.4 million.

South Africa’s unemployment rate has been persistently high, and sadly the main driver of economic growth – the youth, aged 15–34 years – has been affected by it the most as they account for 63.4% of all unemployed South Africans in 2020.

What’s more is that although South Africa has made great strides for equal gender representation in the labour market, women are still underrepresented at under 50%.

Reasons for unemployment

While 2020’s increase in unemployment is largely attributable to the current global pandemic, there are many other reasons for the ongoing increase in South Africa’s unemployment rate. These include:

• The inability of the economy to create jobs
• High-level entry requirements
• Quality and relevance of education
• Little or no labour market experience
• The lack of relevant skills

Businesses also face higher costs of investment and lower costs of termination when employing young workers. As a result, these businesses are forced to create training programmes to help fill the gap.

Improving the lives of young South Africans

To help companies bridge the gap, reduce unemployment, and upskill women and the youth of South Africa, Atvance Academy offers companies the opportunity to partner with them in providing free accredited training for qualifying learners who do not otherwise have access to further education.

This enables these learners to study towards various SAQA-accredited qualifications.

Atvance Academy is a 51% black-owned, Level 2 B-BBEE, and SAQA Accredited organisation, and offers bursaries, learnerships, apprenticeships, and work-integrated learning at 172 rapidly growing campuses across South Africa.

The impact of partnering with Atvance Academy

“The companies that support us gain improved B-BBEE levels due to the impact that our initiative has on the various pillars of the B-BBEE codes – Skills Development, Preferential Procurement,  and with extended application to Socio-economic Development,” said Atvance Academy.

By partnering with Atvance Academy, employers benefit all while helping upskill South Africa’s young job seekers, increasing their likelihood of entering the job market.

“We have 30,000 learners attending our accredited training courses every month, at no cost to them. This is enabled through partnerships with businesses across the country. This model has proved so successful that many companies have included us in their long-term plans,” said Atvance Academy.

Click here to find out more about partnering with Atvance Academy.

This article was published in partnership with Atvance Academy.