Government is confident the controversial youth wage subsidy, now called the youth wage incentive scheme (Yeti), will work, but DA MP Tim Harris says "like every Yeti, we all hear about it but no one ever sees it."
Image: GCIS
Replying to questions in the National Assembly, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe dismissed Harris' notion saying the government acknowledged youth unemployment was a tinderbox and that this would be addressed through various schemes and projects.
"We are aware that there are about 2.8m people in the 18-to-24 age group who are not in any tertiary institution and who are not in any job," said Motlanthe.
The youth employment tax scheme was one of many ways the government hoped to tackle the problem.
"The youth tax incentive will work. And we will use it," he said.
Harris asked the deputy president how the scheme could become a reality after the Congress of SA Trade Unions - and ANC alliance partner - had spent three years blocking it and had remained opposed to it.
"We are quite confident that working people inside and outside of Cosatu will come to understand that this is an important instrument to address this burning problem of youth unemployment," Motlanthe said.
The incentive scheme, in the form of a tax credit, means employers get money back for hiring unemployed young people.
Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge
