South Africa quietly building the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative

The Youth Employment Service (YES) is a private sector-led initiative launched in March 2018 to combat South Africa's youth unemployment crisis, which reached 39% for those aged 15-34 in Q2 2018. The programme aims to create 330,000 jobs annually, targeting one million opportunities over three years by providing inexperienced youth with one year of work experience to increase their marketability. To incentivise private sector participation, the Department of Trade and Industry integrated YES into the broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) measurement codes on 28 August 2018, allowing participating businesses to improve their B-BBEE scorecards by up to two levels. However, the document notes that the initiative's success is threatened by a technical recession, a poor-quality education system (ranked 137th out of 139 by the World Economic Forum in 2016), and the need to align skills with the 4th Industrial Revolution.

• The Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative, launched in March 2018, is a private sector-led programme supported by government, labour, and business designed to improve the marketability of unemployed youth through one year of work experience. This exposure is intended to make participants three times more likely to find permanent employment after the 12-month period.
• President Cyril Ramaphosa has established a target for YES to create 330,000 jobs for young people annually, with a long-term goal of one million job opportunities over three years.
• To encourage private sector uptake, the YES initiative was included in the broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) measurement codes published on 28 August 2018, enabling participating companies to potentially improve their B-BBEE scorecard by up to two levels.
• The success of the YES initiative is hindered by three primary factors: a technical recession that threatens job creation, an education system that fails to prepare graduates for work (ranking 137th out of 139 countries in a 2016 World Economic Forum report), and the necessity of adapting to the 4th Industrial Revolution.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2018). South Africa quietly building the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative. https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africa-quietly-building-the-youth-employment-service-yes-initiative/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. South Africa quietly building the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative. 2018. https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africa-quietly-building-the-youth-employment-service-yes-initiative/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=South Africa quietly building the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative |date=12 October 2018 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africa-quietly-building-the-youth-employment-service-yes-initiative/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2018south, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{South Africa quietly building the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/south-africa-quietly-building-the-youth-employment-service-yes-initiative/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }