TRAILBLAZER BY JESSIE TAYLOR
Changing young lives
through employment Zooming in on the CEO of the Youth Employment Service (YES), Dr. Tashmia Ismail Improving youth employment Workplace experience can make youth more attractive to recruiters, helping them secure jobs and passing on real-world skills for their chosen profession. This is the aim behind South African not-for-profit Youth Employment Service (YES). The joint national initiative between business, government and labour aims to address youth unemployment by placing unemployed, black youth into a year-long quality work experience. These placements provide not only an income to the participants but also represent a critical first chance at entering the workforce. Closing the inequality gap South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. In the last quarter of 2020, South Africa had around 20.5 million youth (aged between 15 and 34), of which almost 42% were not in employment, education or training. This high unemployment rate impacts the poverty levels and cycle of inequality deeply entrenched in South Africa. “The best way to close the inequality gap is to get people into work immediately and quickly. By earning an income, youth can begin to break the cycle of lifetime unemployment and poverty”, says YES Chief Executive Dr. Tashmia Ismail. YES aims to solve a problem facing many South African youth – they can’t get a job without experience, nor can they get experience without a job. Nearly 55 000 youth have participated in the programme over the last 124 weeks, with quality work experience placements at more than 1 480 companies. Some companies that have participated include Nedbank, Multichoice, Shoprite, Woolworths, PG Group, VW,
18 | Public Sector Leaders | June 2021
