Even as South Africa slowly emerges from the suffocating financial grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, lately released employment statistics proceed to make for grim studying, with nearly eight million individuals unemployed.
South Africa truly recorded improved financial exercise within the fourth quarter of 2021, together with an growth in actual GDP of 1.2% in comparability with the previous quarter, however unemployment still reached record levels.
Denice Dumisa
According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), unemployment in Q4 last 12 months rose to 35.3% from 34.9% in the previous quarter. This is the highest stage since the begin of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey in 2008.
Even more alarmingly, the youth unemployment price stood at a staggering 65.5%.
The latest employment data was released at the finish of March by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), and got here simply days after South Africa managed to attract R1.2 trillion in funding during the fourth South Africa Investment Conference.
Analysts have described the country’s economic system as “producing jobless growth” and believe that even with upward economic progress within the medium term, South Africa will still have an total unemployment figure of around 30%.
Youth unemployment is a worldwide problem, much more acutely pronounced in South Africa, the place the most recent figures are sounding crucial alarm bells.
In late 2021, Stats SA reported that two out of every three young individuals beneath the age of 35 in South Africa are unemployed. For the age cohort under 25, this rises to three out of each four, or a jarring 75%.
But in and amongst the dire unemployment statistics there are rays of light on tips on how to start to effectively tackle this socio-economic disaster.
Education is key
According to the QLFS report, of the 7,9 million unemployed persons in the fourth quarter of 2021, as many as 51,6% had training levels below matric.
This number of unemployed drops the upper the training level. Those with a Matric cross constitute 38.6% of unemployed and this figure drops substantially for those with different tertiary qualifications (6.9%) and graduates who constitute only 2.4% of South Africa’s formal unemployed.
Astron Energy’s Organisational Capability, Learning and Development Manager Lindiwe Ncongwane mentioned: “It is an usually repeated mantra that education is the necessary thing to success, however the labour pressure survey definitely bears this out.
“Education allied to opportunity is the golden key to breaking this cycle of unemployment and to create a future for young individuals within the country.”
Astron Energy, which operates South Africa’s second largest community of retail websites together with the Caltex model, runs a variety of Youth Development Programmes overlaying both tutorial support and workplace and experiential studying alternatives.
Astron Energy’s Youth Development Programmes include:
Learnerships
Bursaries
Apprenticeships
In-Service-Training
Graduate Internship Programme
Opportunities
According to Ncongwane, South African Corporates have a key role to play in providing opportunities for graduates and people with different qualifications to help reduce the variety of unemployed, and also to assist construct a technology of employable young people.
“Investments in training and abilities growth, allied to training qualifications, will help build a workforce that is multi-skilled and in a place to adapt to a mess of duties and industries,” she said.
The 2020 Future of Work report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) discovered that 50% of all workers will want reskilling by 2025 as adoption of technology will increase.
The report additionally listed important thinking and problem-solving as main skills employers imagine might be wanted over the following five years, while newer developments centre on self-management expertise corresponding to active studying, resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility.
According to Ncongwane, a key a part of Astron Energy’s focus is to equip younger people for the world of labor, not only at Astron Energy and the petrochemical business, however the throughout a spread of disciplines to enable them to be globally aggressive.
The firm additionally runs a selection of school-level initiatives in the STEM area, but in line with the 4th Industrial Revolution’s focus on the 3Cs of Communication, Critical considering and Collaboration, has broadened this to STEAM – Science, Technology, Arts and Maths – in a bid to develop problem-solving and process-based learning.
เกจวัดแรงดัน As a rustic, we have to continue investing within the education of our young people, significantly in the important abilities space, and then create alternatives for them to use these abilities and develop in office environments,” Ncongwane mentioned.
“As corporates we have to design a range of programmes and initiatives to fulfill not solely the wants of the enterprise, but additionally the method forward for work – and critically the future employment possibilities for our young people.
“If we do this proper, we can start altering the outlook on the employment front and make positive that financial growth has a tangible influence on the futures and livelihoods of the generations to come.”
In the Youth Development space, Astron Energy runs the next programmes:
Learnerships
8 X Learnerships in chemical operations on the Astron Energy refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town
20 X Learnerships in Sales and New Venture Creation at Johannesburg workplaces
The Learnerships run from 1 Oct 2021 – 30 Sep 2022
Bursaries
Astron Energy runs a full Bursary programme which covers each under graduate and publish graduate research, from 1st year to Masters Level college students.
The bursaries embody tuition fees, lodging, books, meals, cash allowances and vacation work in the type of internship/in-service-training within the company’s operations.
The programme started in 2020 and thus far over 440 college students have been funded.
There are presently 196 scholar bursars and 15 worker bursars as a half of this programme. A total of 26 employee youngsters are part of the bursary programme for 2022.
The bursary covers a spread of examine fields this year including:
BSc: Chemical Engineering/ BSc: Industrial Engineering/ BSC: Property Studies/ Masters: Industrial Psychology/ Honours: Financial Accounting/ Bcom: Economics/ BSc: Electrical Engineering/ Bcom/BA: Human Resources Management/ Bcom: Information Technology/ Bcom: Internal Auditing/ Bcom: Logistics/ Occupational Health and Safety/ Bcom: Supply Chain/ BSc: Analytical Chemistry.
Astron Energy also presents profitable bursars the opportunity to be part of the Astron Energy Graduate Training programme.
Apprenticeships
Astron Energy presents 24-month Apprenticeships in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and Instrumentation at the refinery in Cape Town. At current, the corporate has six apprenticeships in its manufacturing division.
Graduate Programme
The Graduate Internship Programme is run in accordance with the various disciplines required by the business and runs for a interval of between 18-24 months. The present consumption of Graduate interns is ready to end on 31 December 2022.
Infographic
Astron Energy currently has seventy seven members in its Learnership, Apprenticeship and Graduate Internship programmes:
LogisticsGraduate Internship13
CFOGraduate Internship11
RetailGraduate Internship5
HRGraduate Internship3
HRLearnership20
C & IGraduate Internship2
CEOGraduate Internship2
ManufacturingGraduate Internship1
STOGraduate Internship3
Strategy Graduate Internship2
SHEQGraduate Internship1
ManufacturingApprentice6
ManufacturingChemical Operations Learnership8
Total77
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