Youth job plan can help reduce unemployment: Marcus

Encouraging firms to employ young work seekers could help reduce unemployment, SA Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said on Wednesday.

   

"The rate of unemployment among the youth is above 50 percent.

 

Our view is that it is possible to incentivise firms to hire younger people, while protecting the existing work force and addressing unemployment," Marcus said at a labour law conference in Johannesburg.

   

The youth incentive, also known as the youth wage subsidy, is aimed at encouraging firms to employ young job seekers through tax incentives.

   

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) has opposed to the plan, arguing it will lead to job losses among older workers.

   

Marcus said a major concern was that the length of time people remained unemployed kept increasing.

   

The Statistics SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey released on Tuesday revealed that the number of unemployed increased to 4.7 million in the second quarter of 2013 -- the highest level yet.

 

Between the first and second quarter of the year, 122,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed.

   

Marcus said while the country had made strides in improving access to education, structural problems in the sector still existed. Skills shortages to help the economy grow remained a problem.

   

"Given that the economy is in short supply of skills, the import of skills can be exploited. Studies have shown that with every skilled immigrant brought in at least four to eight jobs are created."

   

She said while many other countries also faced unemployment, the country's economy needed to diversify to create more jobs.

   

Earlier, Marcus said there were at least 200 million unemployed people in the world at present, excluding those not actively seeking work.

   

-Sapa