OPINION: Job-hunting is a full-time task for young people

As young people in KZN listened to the 2026 national budget speech delivered by Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, one question stood out: Will this budget create real opportunities for unemployed youth?

One of the most effective interventions in recent years has been public employment programmes, particularly the teacher assistant initiative under the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative. Through the Basic Education Employment Initiative, thousands of young people have been placed in schools as education assistants and general school assistants.

These programmes matter. For many young people, the teacher assistant programme is their first real work experience. It allows young people to gain skills, earn a stipend, and contribute meaningfully to schools and communities. The programme has already created hundreds of thousands of opportunities for young people in schools across the country, many of whom had never worked before. Training is important. But training alone cannot solve unemployment if opportunities are temporary or uncertain.

Many young people who complete these programmes still struggle to transition into permanent employment. If public employment programmes are going to be a real solution to youth unemployment, they must be expanded, predictable, and connected to longer-term pathways into work.

Another reality that is often ignored in budget discussions is the cost of looking for work. Research by the youth advocacy campaign, Youth Capital, shows that young people spend an average of about R1469 per month just trying to find employment. This includes transport to interviews, mobile data for online applications, printing CVs, and document certification. Transport alone can cost around R700 per month. Yet the Social Relief of Distress grant currently provides only R370 per month.

For many young people, this grant does not even cover the cost of attending job interviews. In fact, Youth Capital research shows that many young people are forced to choose between buying food and looking for work. In KZN, where many communities are far from economic hubs, transport costs can be even higher. Young people may need to travel long distances just to access opportunities. This means the barriers to employment are not only about skills, they are also about affordability and access.

As a Youth Capital community facilitator in KZN, I work with young people every day who are actively trying to build their futures. They attend workshops, apply for jobs, volunteer, and develop skills. What they need is not motivation, it is opportunity. Young people do not want to depend on grants. What they want is the chance to work, contribute, and build sustainable futures.

The teacher assistant programme has shown that public employment can change lives. The question now is whether government will invest enough to ensure that these opportunities grow, rather than disappear. Because until real pathways into work are created, millions of young South Africans will remain locked out of the economy, not because they lack potential, but because the system has not made space for them.

EKTA SOMERA
KZN Youth Capital community facilitator

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