Automobile youth employment initiative for KZN youth

Friday, May 18, 2018

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday attended the Volvo Group Southern Africa’s Youth Employment Initiative.  

The event was attended by matric and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students at the Swedish motor manufacturer’s assembly plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.

The Presidency this week said Volvo’s initiative is in line with the Youth Employment Service (YES) launched by government in March.

The YES initiative aims to see more than one million young South Africans being offered paid work experience over the next three years, as part of placing the needs of and opportunities for young people at the centre of inclusive economic growth.
 
The initiative takes the form of a partnership – led by President Ramaphosa – between governments, business, labour and civil society.
 
The programme has three channels through which employment opportunities can occur. This includes corporate work experiences, where businesses that participate in the programme create one-year paid positions for youth aged between 18 and 35, in addition to these organisations’ current employment numbers.

The opportunities can also be through SMME host placements, where businesses that do not have the capacity to place more people in their organisations, have the option of sponsoring the salary for a one-year placement in small and medium enterprises (in year one for seven to 10 months).

The third channel is SMME development, where young people are empowered to start and grow their own businesses, with support from YES in the form of training, seed funding and value chain integration.
 
Research has shown that one year of work experience, coupled with a CV and reference letter, increases a young person’s chances of finding employment by up to three times.

The Presidency said the Volvo Group Southern Africa plans to invest an added over R20 million during 2018 on apprenticeship training, automotive industry learnerships, disabled person learnerships, as well as internships.

It has already invested more than R86 million since 2015.
 
The plant’s positioning in the Durban’s south industrial basin is part of a major industrial expansion as it forms a part of other automotive companies that have invested in this area and boosts the economy of the province and by extension of the country.
 
Volvo has committed to continue their involvement in the Star for Life programme and plans to invest over R7.8 million in this non-profit organisation’s initiative that provides young people in Southern Africa with essential life skills, sport training and health education. - SAnews.gov.za