South Africa desperately cries out for change with its unemployment rate reaching a new record of 34.4% in the second quarter of 2021. All industries will feel the knock-on effect this has on our country and its people if we don’t start problem-solving and apply some effective solutions.
With a high unemployment rate, the government loses a substantial amount of money that is paid to citizens for unemployment benefits. The chained consequences of this may result in the economy facing much deeper problems that could end with South Africa unable to pay these benefits without borrowing – making a bad situation worse.
How Can Businesses Actively Counteract the Problem?
For businesses to sit back and relax in hopes that the government is solely responsible for changing the situation is not an effective stance to take, and will result in economic ruin and very possibly the end of your business. So how can businesses take an active approach in an effort to alleviate unemployment and poverty in South Africa? Keep reading…
Remove constraints of employment
In order to build an effective foundation for growth, we need to address what holds your business back from increasing employment. In order to improve job-creation, you need to remove obstacles, including inadequate infrastructure and lack of skills training that hinders the unemployed from entering the job-market.
Unemployment almost always circles back to lack of skills training. Even though job opportunities arise in many industries, the majority of the unemployed don’t have the appropriate skills to fill those gaps. If we can tackle this problem at the core, we open the door for a real solution to the current poverty crisis.
Introduce Partnerships
Partnerships have the power to spearhead a real change in our country’s economy. If businesses work together by sharing their strengths, problem-solving skills, resources, and networking – with the intention of solving this crisis – South Africa will have a fighting chance against poverty.
An example of a successful partnership that fights against high unemployment rates is our collaboration with Anglo American Zimele: We partnered with the global mining company on the Hospitality and Tourism Youth Initiative, with the shared goal of seeing an increase of gainful employment in South Africa. Here we work together to recruit, identify talent, and offer specific skills development programmes to the young adults growing up in rural mining communities. Thereafter, we use our broad network of established businesses to place them into stable, long-term jobs that reach far beyond mine work. These young adults now have the opportunity to be placed in jobs on cruise ships, in hotels, and with other businesses across the globe.
This is proof of the impact and success of partnering with organisations that offer training solutions, and can connect the unemployed with employers, can have a on dissolving the hunger crisis.
At Summit, our end goal is to extinguish poverty in South Africa by equipping the unemployed with skills that open doors to promising work opportunities. Partner with us to train a generation of skilled professionals who can conquer the challenges we face today.