Youth unemployment is a persistent global challenge to be tackled by all stakeholders at local and international levels. The ILO (2018) states that, despite the access to higher education and training across the world, unemployment affects young people aged 18-24 three times more than adults. To solve the problem of youth unemployment, many governments, provide Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes in institutions to help the insertion of the unemployed youth in the labour market (Dummert, 2020:1; Mitra, 2018:150; Remington, 2018:498; Roopchund & Ramlowat,2019:415).
2. Definition of keywords
• Unemployment is defined as the involuntary lack of employment of persons
who are willing and able to work but cannot work and earn a salary (Cloete,
2015:513).
• Sustainable employment refers to work that is both valuable to the employer and
the employee over an extended period of time (van der Klink et al., 2016:73).
• TVET is a form of vocational education that allows students to gain the skills
and knowledge they need to meet changing society labour demands (Olabiyi &
Chinedu, 2018:5002) and the acquisition of trade skills for those who are not
academically orientated (Fraser, 2014:494).
3. INTRODUCTION
• TVET viewed as a worldwide mechanism to cure high unemployment.
• Facilitates the production of a skilled and competent workforce.
• Policy documents in countries prioritise the role played by VE.
• African countries have higher unemployment rates translating to even higher youth unemployment rates (African Union , 2018)
• Youth unemployment in South Africa has reached a chronic stage, graduates have turned into street beggars.
• African countries now realise the role of TVET in equipping the youth with relevant workplace skills (Afeti, 2018).
• SA’s turbulent economy presents a great opportunity for youth to engage in entrepreneurial activities (Buli & Yesuf, 2015).
4. Challenges faced
• TVET training focuses on business needs neglecting sustainable
employment provision (Haftendorn, 2003).
• Difficulty in measuring entrepreneurship and self-employment impact
(Haftendorn, 2003).
• Graduates unable to secure sustainable employment.
• A lack of ET incorporation in TVETs teaching delivery.
• Stats SA’s data shows that approximately 3.4 million (33.5%) out of
10.2 million young people aged 15-24 years were not in any form of
employment, education or training (NEET) (StatsSA, 2021)
5. The importance of ET
• Roopchund and Ramlowat (2019) propose a multifaceted TVET curriculum reflecting labour market and institution collaboration.
• ET imparts workplace skills that lead to sustainable employment.
• Skills shortage due to the non-existence of ET in VE (Mack et al., 2019) and skills mismatch attained at HE institutions (Hill et al., 2020)
contribute to high unemployment.
• A VE system that is inclusive of workplace experience through proper management of ET will ensure the attainment of a skilled workforce.
• Entrepreneurship training within TVET programmes is a global idea simply because it serves to the creation and provision of jobs.
Ndofirepi (2020:2) views the entire idea of providing ET as a means of generating a significant amount of inventive and creative human
capital.
• ET might be viewed in this light as a tool for compensating for job shortages in diverse economies and reducing youth unemployment.
7. References
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