Relatively minor amendments to labour laws could make it easier for millions to find work
This is one of the key recommendations in a new report by the IRR, Generating Jobs and Skills for Growth and Prosperity, 2026, to be launched with a webinar tomorrow morning at 10am.
The report is the latest in the IRR’s Blueprint for Growth series. Author Dr Anthea Jeffery analyses some of the reforms the GNU has recently proposed to help boost jobs and skills.
Jeffery points out that when, in 2012, the African National Congress (ANC) adopted a National Development Plan (NDP) it said would reduce the unemployment rate to 6% by 2030. Yet, with that deadline just four years away, the joblessness rate now exceeds 33%, which means unemployment is 450% greater today than the NDP target.
In a statement, the IRR points out that the ANC has often promised to usher in a “skills revolution”. However, both it and the Government of National Unity (GNU) continue to fail on this front. Drop-out rates remain high in all spheres: from schools and universities to Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
The IRR says that to counter unemployment, the GNU has put forward a batch of reforms to labour laws. While some of these ideas are helpful in small ways, most tinker at the edges of bad laws, or make them still more costly and coercive.
On the skills front, the most significant changes are in the TVET sphere. Here, the aim is to modernise curricula, insist that courses include workplace experience, and bring in experts to teach. However, so long as the annual TVET budget remains a paltry R14.6bn, the changes proposed are unlikely to count much.
By contrast, more than R100bn a year goes to “massified” universities, which continue to battle with poorly prepared students and high drop-out rates. In practice, “free” university education remains costly and wasteful. In addition, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) responsible for implementing it has recently been placed under administration for the third time in eight years.
In tomorrow’s webinar, Dr Jeffery and Terence Corrigan, IRR projects and publications manager, will discuss the reforms vital to increased jobs, skills, and growth, and rising prosperity.
To join the webinar, go to: https://streamyard.com/watch/zeMnKzA6wrVt