Late last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative in partnership with the private sector, aimed at reducing South Africa’s high youth unemployment rate.

According to Business Day, the Nedbank Group has joined in the YES initiative and is said to employ 3 315 youth for a period of 12 months beginning in May.

“These employees would receive training to ensure they are equipped with skills to enter the job market once their one year training programme has been completed,” said Nedbank.

The financial services provider added that it would provide paid work experience for the 3 315 people aged between 18 and 29 years. The jobs would be within the bank and its sponsored placement partners Wildtrust, Tradeway, UnlockD and ORT SA.

Furthermore Business Day noted that 230 companies have signed up to the programme and 16 300 committed work experiences have been provided to date, according to YES initiative website.

“More than 3.3 million people in SA aged between 15 and 34 years were neither studying nor working, half of them have completed Grade 12 and are largely employable in the formal sector unless they receive relevant training and work experience,” concluded Nedbank.

[Source – Business Day]
[Image – Nedbank]