No experience for entry-level jobs is a game changer

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Deputy President David Mabuza said this when answering oral questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa made a call during his State of the Nation Address that experience will no longer be a prerequisite when applying for an entry-level job under the public employment programmes, in order to address the youth unemployment crisis.

“As for implementation of this pronouncement, the Minister for Public Service and Administration has issued a Directive to all government departments on its implementation, and the commencement date is the 1st April 2019.

“In terms of this Directive, all the Departments are required to introduce a graduate recruitment scheme, and to identify graded posts based on the need identified in the departmental Human Resource Plan, and other service delivery improvement initiatives.

“The Department of Public Service and Administration will soon be undertaking roadshows to further engage with national and provincial government departments on the implementation of this change,” he said.

In his State of the Nation Address, the President said government has decided that the requirement for work experience at entry-level in state institutions will be done away with.

In saying this, the President said young people needed to be given a real head start in the world of work and that they should not face barriers and hindrances as they seek to find work.

Addressing the National Assembly on Wednesday, Mabuza said the decision to remove the experience requirement is a game changer and will see a decrease in the high unemployment of suitably qualified young people.

“We have seen in the private sector other similar initiatives that also afford our unemployed youth an opportunity of a first time job, and we call upon all our partners in the private sector to embrace this change,” he said.