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Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) attended the recent 101st Session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month.

One of the key themes for this conference was youth unemployment which is a global crisis taking into account that 75 Million young people worldwide who are out of work. BUSA supports the conclusion of the International Labour Conference which calls for urgent action on the global employment crisis affecting youth around the world.

BUSA looks forward to working with government and labour to respond to the message of the ILO Conference.

BUSA therefore reiterates its position on the urgent implementation of the youth wage subsidy, with the necessary safeguards, as one of the short term interventions to address youth unemployment. BUSA also acknowledges that there are other interventions that can be implemented to address youth unemployment and welcomes the call by Nedlac to expedite discussions on this matter.

We agree that there is a need for a multi-pronged approach to youth unemployment. This would include measures to foster pro-employment growth and decent job creation through macroeconomic policies, employability, labour market policies and youth entrepreneurship, while ensuring financial and fiscal sustainability.

BUSA believes that the youth unemployment challenge can be addressed only if job creation for young people becomes a key priority in policy making in the both the public and private sectors. Establishing and strengthening monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to measure impact and improve policy instruments is critical.

The business delegation was led by the Vice President of BUSA Mr Mthunzi Mdwaba and included the BUSA CEO Ms Nomaxabiso Majokweni, Executive Director for Social Policy Ms Vanessa Phala and BUSA members, Ms Tanya Cohen, Mr Kaizer Moyane and Mr John Botha.