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MacLennan, Michael (Ed.); Osório, Rafael Guerreiro (Ed.); de Arruda, Pedro Lara (Ed.)
Research Report Youth and employment among the BRICS
Policy in Focus, No. 28
Provided in Cooperation with: International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)
Suggested Citation: MacLennan, Michael (Ed.); Osório, Rafael Guerreiro (Ed.); de Arruda, Pedro Lara (Ed.) (2014) : Youth and employment among the BRICS, Policy in Focus, No. 28, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), Brasilia
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A publication of The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth United Nations Development Programme April 2014 No. 28
YOUTH AND EMPLOYMENT AMONG THE BRICS The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) is a joint project between the United Nations and Brazil to promote South-South learning on social policies. It specialises in research-based policy recommendations on how to reduce poverty and inequality as well as boost inclusive development. The IPC-IG is linked Summary to the UNDP Brazil Country Office, the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs (SAE) and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) of the Government of Brazil.
Director: Jorge Chediek
Senior Researcher: Diana Oya Sawyer
04 To BRICS or not to BRICS: Policy in Focus the Dilemma of Youth Unemployment Policy in Focus is a regular publication of the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG). This edition brings together a diverse range of opinions and experts on the subject of social policies designed to promote youth 08 Why to Invest in Adolescents employment within the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). This special edition was developed in partnership with the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and the Secretariat of Strategic Affairs (SAE). 10 A Brief Overview of Youth Turnover in the Editor-in-Chief: Michael MacLennan, Brazilian Formal Labour Market UNDP/International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth
Specialist Guest Editors: Rafael Guerreiro Osório, Social Policies and Studies, Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and Pedro Lara de Arruda, Youth and Employment: A Contribution to UNDP/International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth 12 the Dialogue on Public Policy Copy Editor: Jon Stacey, The Write Effect Ltd.
Publications Manager: Roberto Astorino Youth Employment Policies of the Russian Art and Desktop Publishing: Rosa Maria Banuth and Thiago Fernandes 14 Federation: Opportunities and Challenges Cover graphic designed by the IPC-IG Publications Team. EDITORIAL
Editor’s note: The IPC-IG is grateful to IPEA (the Brazilian Institute for Applied Social Policy in India: Economic Research) and in particular the Directorate of Social Policies and Studies 18 Impacts and Challenges for Youth (Disoc) for their support in the development of this special issue. Special thanks are also extended to our Specialist Guest Editors Rafael Guerreiro Osório and Pedro Lara de Arruda for their contribution and help to develop the concept for this issue, in addition to Fábio Veras, Ashleigh Kate Slingsby and Manoel Salles for their editorial 20 India: Social Protection and Youth support. Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of the authors for their generous contributions of intellectual inputs and time, without which, this issue simply would not have been possible. China, Social Protection 22 and Implications for Youth Employment The views expressed in IPC-IG publications are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the United Nations Development Programme or the Government of Brazil.
Rights and Permissions – All rights reserved. The text and data in this publication Public Works, Job Creation may be reproduced as long as written permission is obtained from IPC-IG and the 25 source is cited. Reproductions for commercial purposes are forbidden. and Poverty Reduction in Rural China
Social Safety Nets and Youth Job Creation: 27 The South African Case
18 Years Old? You Are on your Own Safety International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth United Nations Development Programme 30 Nets & Youth Employment in South Africa SBS, Quadra 1, Bloco J, Ed. BNDES, 13º andar 70076-900 Brasilia, DF - Brazil Telephone: +55 61 2105 5000 Job Creation Policies for South African E-mail: [email protected] URL: www.ipc-undp.org 32 Youth — The Role of Safety Nets
Editorial Office E-mail: [email protected] Expanded Public Works Programme:
Employing Youth to Build © 2014 International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth 34 United Nations Development Programme Stronger Communities
ISSN: 2318-8995 ome and Hope with Me!” This was the rallying call by South African Mongane “ Serote to draw the world’s attention to the battle fought by his people against Apartheid. It is in this spirit that we invite readers to explore this special edition C of Policy in Focus. This issue is dedicated to the analysis of the usage of social programmes to promote youth employment in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. In light of the 2014 BRICS Academic Forum, which will officially transfer the responsibilities of host country from South Africa to Brazil, we have set out to understand how the BRICS countries have made use of their extensive expertise in social policies and programmes to go beyond mitigation of crisis, towards the realisation of young people’s ambitions. This special issue commences with a comparative article from the editors, followed by an article by UNICEF on adolescence. It then introduces specific sections dedicated to each BRICS country as per their respective order within the BRICS acronym. The opening articles of each section provide a general overview of social programmes and the creation of jobs for young people, while the closing articles from each section provide studies focused on the promotion of youth employment through more specific social programmes. In an analysis of Brazil’s youth employment situation, Corseuil et al. point out that keeping a job is more of a problem than getting one. Ana Lobato and Valéria Labrea qualify other social characteristics that lead to youth unemployment, such as race, gender and educational background in Brazil. Anna Bilous, Alexandra Karpova and Michael MacLennan then provide an overview of the Russian Federation’s changing demographic composition, its federative set-up and other structural challenges that have an impact on youth employment/unemployment. Two articles on India offer an interesting contrast: Jayati Gosh highlights the weaknesses of the Indian government and its recent setbacks in its attempt to promote social protection for young people, while Ravi Shrivastava presents encouraging findings from his study on the possibilities of India building a youth-friendly Social Protection Floor by the end of its 13th Five Year Plan (2021-22). The section dedicated to China presents two complementary articles. The first, by Minquan Liu, shows how the pre-economic-liberalisation social investment in youth created human capital crucial to China’s recent economic boom. The author also discusses the future of this human capital in light of the challenges entailed in China’s federative set-up (the hukou system) and how this affects the provision of social programmes for young people. Zhu Ling then emphasises the improvements in job creation programmes that were possible due to the enhanced role the market played in the strategies adopted since the 1990s. Finally, the issue turns to an examination of South Africa, which faces the biggest challenges in terms of youth unemployment among the BRICS countries. The country has a plethora of social programmes dedicated to improving this scenario, covered in the last four articles of the issue. The first one, by Avinash Govindje, provides an overview of the South African situation vis-a-vis other countries and its BRICS partners, while at the same time introducing four national initiatives. Marianne Ulriksen and Lauren Graham highlight the gap in safety nets that affects South Africans as they turn 18 years old. The authors advance an argument that favours the usage of social programmes as pathways to youth employment. Letlhokwa Mpedi also presents an extensive description of social programmes that promote jobs for young people in South Africa, while at the same time debating proposed laws in this regard, and evaluating the extent to which beneficiaries of such programmes successfully find stable jobs afterwards. Finally, Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song looks at the Expanded Public Works Programme to understand how it succeeds at targeting opportunities for young people and, at the same time, also fosters communitarian initiatives, which are necessary to buffer the high unemployment rates South Africa is expected to face, even in the best case scenario. It is hoped that these articles further emphasise the strategic importance of relating by Rafael Guerreiro Osório and social programmes that promote employment to the ultimate goal of protecting the Pedro Lara de Arruda youth of the BRICS countries. To BRICS or not to BRICS: the Dilemma of Youth Unemployment
by Rafael Guerreiro Osório, Director of Social Policies and Studies, Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA - DISOC) and Pedro Lara de Arruda, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG/UNDP)
Conceptualising youth individuals become fully responsible years of age. Admittedly, it does recognise History and anthropology inform us socially and, in most jurisdictions, legally that there is a need to narrow the concept that in many societies the concept of liable for their actions. in the same document. The Chinese ‘youth’ has been considered either National Bureau of Statistics considers non-existent or newly constructed. Ariès related the change in the social those aged 15–30 to be youth, while the Indeed, throughout human history, approach to childhood and adolescence China Youth Federation considers the age the age of reason, or adulthood, in the Renaissance to the ascension of the range to be 18–40 years of age. came right after that of childhood, nuclear family and its private domestic Labour market and normally accompanying physiological realm. He also related it to the novelty of demographic concerns transformations of puberty or the education as preparation for an unknown Except for South Africa, all the other BRICS acquisition of socially valued skills. future in non-hierarchical societies, nations have contradicted the global trend Becoming an adult was simply a matter of where status—based on labour market of experiencing labour market contractions surviving long enough to become one, positioning—is not fully transmitted from following the 2008 financial crisis. There often marked by a rite of passage clearly one generation to the next but is, rather, was, however, a slowdown in employment demarcating the change from childhood the result of a competitive attainment generation among all BRICS countries to adulthood. People considered to be process. Thus, the creation of the life stage between 2007 and 2012, which was children today were known to be fully of youth can be seen as the historical particularly felt by their respective fledged adult members of societies in development of such change as well. youth populations, as Table 1 shows. these other contexts. However, in the The United Nations (UN) currently defines This is highlighted by an increase in the contemporary world the transition youth by an age bracket of those 15–24 Youth to Adult Unemployment Ratio (YAUR) to adulthood is not performed years of age. This is obviously a proxy, in all BRICS countries between 2007 and in a single event; it unfolds during because the age bracket by itself is 2012 despite a stabilisation of the indicator a separate stage of life: youth. meaningless. There have always been at the global level. With the exception people 15–24 years of age. What matters Just as Baby Jesus started to be depicted of Brazil, the Youth Unemployment is that, presently, it is precisely within as a child instead of as a small adult in the Rate (YUR) of the BRICS countries also this stage of life that most individuals paintings analysed by Ariès (1960), so too followed a similar global downward trend. transition to adulthood. The UN definition are the youth no longer perceived as new dates back to 1985—International Youth The particular effects of the job crisis adults nor as children. Thus, youth emerged Year. However, given the increase in life on youth across the BRICS nations is as a new life stage consisting of people who expectancy and the delaying of previously even more apparent when observing were no longer infants or children but not fixed life stage events, such as leaving the relationship between the Youth yet fully psychologically, emotionally or home and other processes related to the Employment to Population Rate (YEPR) socially developed, nor equipped or prepared transition to adulthood, the UN definition and the Employment to Population Rate for adulthood—and, as a consequence, may now be considered to be too narrow. (EPR), wherein youth lagged far behind the not considered as such. broader working-age population. For reasons that reflect the socio-political Therefore, today, youth can be defined as particularities and contexts of each BRICS Of the BRICS, only Brazil has demonstrated the transformational stage of the life cycle country, the official definitions of youth proportionally equal advances for these when individuals experience the transition among its members vary a great deal, and two indices (YEPR and EPR), while China from childhood to adulthood. In most the age ranges are all larger than that of has maintained its standing among both contemporary societies—and the BRICS the UN definition. For instance, youth indices. Russia, India and South Africa, nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and policies are aimed at those 15–29 years of however, have witnessed respective gaps South Africa) are no exception—it is the age in Brazil; 14–30 years of age in Russia; between YEPR and EPR, of four, two and stage of life when people begin to make and 15–35 years of age in South Africa on one percentage points. conscious decisions about their life, such account of following the African Youth as deciding to finish their formal education Charter. In India and China there exists a The policies concerning youth around or to quit school; or to leave their parental plurality of youth definitions; however, that the world and in the BRICS countries home to form a new household and start outlined by the Indian 12th Five Year Plan are driven, among other factors, by working. This is also the stage at which considers youth to be between 10 and 35 demographic changes. As shown in
4
But if the youth as a category will have a lesser, though still very “important, demographic weight on the labour markets of tomorrow, the persons who belong to the youth of today will grow in importance as they age and become the mainstay of the labour forces and broader societies of tomorrow’s BRICS countries.
Sources: Table organized by the authors based on data from the World Bank. Only data for Global Youth Unemployment Rate and Global Youth to Adult Unemployment Ratio are from the ILO, because the World Bank does not provide such data. * Based on ILO data, and not World Bank data. ** These are not Chinese official numbers but ILO estimations. There are no Chinese official numbers available for these data sets. (1) Available data for India refers to the year 2005, indicating a Youth Unemployment Rate of 10.0 per cent.
Figure 1, due to the combination of the mainstay of the labour forces and broader decline in fertility rates and the increase societies of tomorrow’s BRICS countries. in life expectancy in the BRICS countries, This is clearly illustrated by the fourth the share of the dependent population column of Figure 1, which shows how a (those up to 14 years of age and those single cohort, those born between 1991 65 years of age or older) has declined and 2000, who will make up the 15–24 over the past few decades. Nevertheless, age group in 2015, will account for about the projections suggest that after 2015 one fifth of the working-age population this share of the BRICS population will in 2015. For the BRICS countries that are increase. Countries are aging at different ahead in this demographic transition, rates, and for some BRICS countries— Russia and China, this share could namely, Russia and China—the share of potentially start to grow in the next two their respective dependent population decades, while for Brazil it will remain has been increasing since 2010. The same stable. However, for India and South Africa might happen in Brazil after 2020, while the slower decline in the fertility rate India and South Africa will benefit far will keep the working-age population longer from an increasing working-age growing, so the share of the working-age population (15–64 years old). population of those born between 1991 and 2000 will fall, albeit not by much. As the population of the world and BRICS nations ages and fertility rates decline, the These changes could impose a heavy future share of the youth population tends to burden on today’s youth. A very obvious decrease, as represented in the second challenge will be that of financing social column of Figure 1. In the third column, policies, particularly pensions and health one may note that the working-age care systems. If no reforms are made, the population will also age, so, relatively productivity of the labour force will have speaking, the youth will become less to increase substantially to maintain significant as a share of labour markets. the status quo. This may be pessimistic; But if the youth as a category will have however, it appears patently clear that a lesser, though still very important, productivity gains alone will not suffice. demographic weight on the labour Furthermore, some of the reforms that markets of tomorrow, the persons who have been presented, such as stipulating belong to the youth of today will grow in an increased minimum age for retirement importance as they age and become the or limiting public health care, are not
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 5 only unpopular but against the interest of elderly people, which could potentially exaggerate intergenerational conflict.
Conventional wisdom would dictate that there are basically two paths towards increasing the productivity/efficiency of a labour force: to augment the technology available to workers, or to increase human capital. Although an increase in human capital should result in an increase in technology, increased investment in technology is less likely to result in increased human development. As a result, all BRICS countries have been investing, with heterogeneous results, in increasing human capital. This includes investments and improvements in education systems, and also in programmes designed to directly increase the capacity of the workforce. In this article our focus will be on those programmes directly related to the promotion of jobs for youth.
Youth-oriented social programmes of the BRICS countries Programmes to create jobs for young people in the BRICS countries fall into three broad categories: workfare; technical or professional training; and access to credit to promote self-employment and entrepreneurship.
Workfare programmes are particularly important in South Africa and India. South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has a quota of 40 per cent of its positions for young people and also offers some on-the-job training. The Indian Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranteed Act (MGNREGA), the biggest workfare programme in the world, does not have a specific focus or quota for youth, yet does still actively employ and serve young people, as well as other groups. Source: Authors elaboration based on data from the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). (accessed 10 February, 2014). This programme aims to guarantee 100 days of unskilled labour per household, of its payment scheme, half of which is In South Africa the National Youth mostly in the form of construction jobs made in kind in the form of ‘food grains’ Development Agency (NYDA) serves as the to build public infrastructure. In certain provided by the national food procurement main organisation in charge of facilitating Indian states for which data is available, agency (the Food Corporation of India— professional training and access to credit. such as Tamil Nadu, the proportion FCI). Programmes that promote access to of young people employed in the China has a tradition of workfare programme can reach as high as 35 per credit to stimulate self-employment and programmes which dates back to 1984, cent of the total. Similar to the MGNREGA, entrepreneurship, such as the Swarna when the government launched the another effective Indian initiative is Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) nationwide Yigong-daizhen (‘To offer job the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, and the Prime Minister’s Employment opportunities to replace sheer relief’) though it also seeks to provide food Generation Programme (PMEGP), are also programme. Workfare programmes in security for the Indian population by way central social policies in India. China today focus on activities requiring
6 low skills. Remuneration, which is now mandatory and must be made in cash, varies depending on the skill level of the worker. Estimates suggest that currently 70 per cent of jobs are allocated to youth. There are also important youth capacity- building initiatives for less developed counties, and other initiatives to provide employer incentives to hire substantial numbers of otherwise would-be- unemployed youth.
The Russian Federation has also taken up the mantle of reducing youth unemployment, by devising a new approach to active employment promotion. The New Employment Programme, announced in September 2013, will aim to stimulate the employment of young people, persons with disabilities, and residents of depressed regions. It is expected to benefit 100,000 Russians in 2014 alone through annual funds to Photo: Striking youth workers in South Africa, IPC-IG Photo/Bazil Raubach. support employment generation among these target groups. An interesting productivity. In fact, these programmes youth within policy development across aspect of this programme is that it will are often devised specifically to employ the BRICS countries. also promote intra-state flows of young low-skilled labour in low-productivity professionals to fight the mismatching of activities. And if training and credit-based From a life cycle development perspective, skills and geographical inequalities. programmes have the potential to foster the investments made in youth will yield lower returns if no investments are made labour productivity where workfare in children’s stages of development too. Brazil does not have a workfare programmes come up short, they still lack programme but is investing heavily in frequent and rigorous impact evaluation The demography of BRICS countries leaves training schemes. According to its Plano studies, making it difficult to judge Plurianual (PPA 2012–15), there are 16 them without a choice: they must invest whether they are successful in increasing federal youth-oriented programmes. more heavily in their children, but also in human capital. In many cases they are only However, Brazil has had some negative youth, to help them develop. For today’s mitigating programmes, in the sense that experiences with training programmes in youth are the bearers of tomorrow’s dream. they frequently compensate—or try to the past, which is why one of its flagship compensate—for the deficits of formal All data for official youth age brackets and training programmes, the Programa for specific social programmes are based on: basic education. Also, many training Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Técnico e Arruda, P. L., Slingsby, A. k. (2014 forthcoming). programmes fail to tackle the demand ‘Social programmes and job promotion for the Emprego (PRONATEC), has sought to for youth labour, as they focus on the BRICS youth’. IPC Working Paper Series. Brasília, increase training programmes within International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. supply side of the equation. Evidence proven quality institutions, such as from a few evaluations, however, indicates Ariès, P. (1960). L’enfant et la vie familiale sous Federal Professional and Scientific and l’ancien régime. Paris, Plon. Technological Education Schools. It has that on-the-job training is perhaps more prone to increased labour productivity ILO (2013). ‘Global Employment Trends for also concluded an agreement with the Youth 2013: A Generation at Risk’, International National Learning Services (Sistema S), than stand-alone classroom training. Labour Organization website,
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 7 Why to Invest in Adolescents by Mário Volpi, UNICEF National Program on Adolescence1
There are many assumptions within mortality rates between 1998 and 2008, Ten reasons to invest in adolescents development organisations and society adding up to over 26,000 children’s lives Although adolescence can be linked to a at large related to a life cycle development saved, while 81,000 Brazilian adolescents series of traditional areas of development approach. The most common assumption (15–19 years old) lost their lives due to cooperation, such as health, education is that the first three years of life are homicide throughout the same period. and protection, it needs to be addressed decisive and play a crucial role for the Similar examples can also be found in as a development agenda that is not future of a human being. Issues related other countries. necessarily dependent on such thematic to brain development and formation areas. The following 10 points serve as an Analysed within the framework of the of the synapses are frequently used initial effort to systematise the arguments Convention on the Rights of the Child, this in an isolated context of neuro-scientific in favour of making specific investments in scenario strongly indicates a great and studies to highlight the importance adolescent development. urgent need to invest in adolescents, as of early childhood development (ECD). it will not be possible to fully achieve the 1. Adolescence as a demographic bonus: Although ECD is indeed highly important objectives of the Convention without a Many countries around the world must for human development, it is not the only strong investment in this age group. take advantage of the demographic determining factor. Each developmental bonus represented by the percentage Thus, to ensure that the investments phase of life has its own specific demands, of the population living in this life cycle. in the first decade of a child’s life are and each life cycle complements another. Using Brazil as an example among effective, they need to be consolidated other BRICS nations, it is clear that the with further investment in the second Development discourses have for country will never again have such a decade. In addition, the adolescent many years been following a common relevant presence of adolescents in its development approach needs to be understanding that a ‘good start in life’ population. Demographic trends are based on the main characteristics of will ensure a positive developmental indicating that in 2050 the population process throughout the following stages adolescence: interaction, autonomy and of Brazil will mainly comprise people of life. However, if specific and adequate identity building—where girls and aged above 35 years of age. boys have the right to live out the full investments in each life phase are not made, 2. Adolescence as an important phase of potential of this unique stage of their lives. such assumptions do not come true. life to consolidate achievements and All BRICS countries are facing this scenario investments made in the first decade: A concrete example of such a conclusion in which past investments will only There is no magic; if new investments can be found in Brazil. Whereas Brazil has result in societal improvement if for adolescents are not made, the risks witnessed a significant decrease in infant new investments are made now. of losing previous investments are high. Data from 2011 shows that in Brazil, 95 per cent of six-year-old children were attending school. In the same year only 76 per cent of 12-year-olds were attending school, and only 48 per cent of 19-year-old adolescents had concluded secondary school).
3. The age of interaction, autonomy and identity building: Different areas such as sociology, neurology, psychology, pedagogy and anthropology have different approaches to adolescence; however, the consensus is that adolescence is an age characterised by interaction, autonomy and identity.
This common conclusion represents a huge opportunity to engage with adolescents in a variety of arenas, areas and processes to jointly Photo: These adolescents are developing new skills and learning about electronics from a University student as build a development agenda in which part of a greater vocational training programme for underprivileged youth, IPC-IG Photo/James Gilbert . the adolescents themselves are the
8 main protagonists to ensure the expectations and take into account the The BRICS countries are faced with the fulfilment of their fundamental importance of peer education. challenge of including these issues in their human rights. agenda if the development project they are 8. Critical thinking and the tendency implementing is intended to be sustainable 4. Adolescents represent an opportunity to break patterns: Due to stigma, and efficient to break the intergenerational to break the cycle of intergenerational stereotypes and discrimination, the cycle of poverty reproduction. poverty: Adolescents have a critical role adolescent tendency to break patterns to play in breaking the transmission of and criticise was seen as a problem for CGI – TIC KIDS (2010). Pesquisa sobre o uso das intergenerational poverty. Early labour, a long time. Nowadays it is clear that pregnancy, school drop-outs and lack tecnologias da informação e da comunicação innovation depends on ‘thinking outside no Brasil. São Paulo. (National research of choices and opportunities to build the box’. Adolescents, when stimulated on ICT use in Brazil). life projects are the main reasons why to innovate, can strongly contribute to adolescents are likely to reproduce Frith, Uta; Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (2005). produce positive social changes. The learning brain: lessons for education. poverty patterns when forming their Oxford: Blackwell. own families. Investing in adolescents 9. The current adolescent generation was IBGE – Coordenação de População e Indicadores is, therefore, strategic for development born under a human rights framework, and for an overall reduction of poverty. Sociais (2010). Síntese dos indicadores Sociais, with human rights principles and Rio de Janeiro. (Social Indicators Summary). democratic standards: Tools must be 5. The openness and ability to deal Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística with the new information and developed to better promote and (IBGE)/ Ministério da Saúde/Ministério da communication technologies (ICTs): facilitate adolescent development and Educação (2012). Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde participation based on the existing do Escolar, Brasília. (National Research Adolescents have been introduced on Students Health). to new ways of studying, researching, human rights framework, opening playing, dialoguing and interacting. spaces in public policies to consolidate Ipea (2010). Pnad 2009: Primeiras análises. A new approach to building this framework and dialogue with Situação da educação brasileira - avanços e problemas. Co-MEC/Inep. Censo Escolar, Brasília. knowledge is ongoing and represents governments to fully recognise (Brazilian Education – Progress and Constrains). a great opportunity for countries to adolescents as rights holders. prepare this generation to optimise Secretaria de Direitos Humanos; UNICEF; 10. Adolescents can contribute to Observatório de Favelas; Laboratório de Análise the potential of ICTs to promote da Violência/UERJ (2011). Índice de Homicídios development with equity. promote creative solutions to na Adolescência: uma análise preliminar dos resolve intergenerational conflicts: homicídios em 267 municípios brasileiros com 6. Increase participation to strengthen Adolescents of today are healthier mais de 100 mil habitantes. Brasília. (Adolescents democracy: Europe, the Middle East, Homicides in 267 Brazilian municipalities above and better educated than their 100 thousands inhabitants). Chile, Argentina and, most recently, parents, in particular those from Brazil have witnessed streets populated poor families, and will also benefit Ozellas, S.; Aguiar, W. M. J. (2008). Desmistificando by demonstrators asking for a Concepção de Adolescência. São Paulo: PUC. from better access to opportunities, In Cadernos de Pesquisa, v. 38, n. 133, p. 97-125, more accountable governments, resources and services. Therefore, jan./abr. (Demystifying Adolescence Concepts). democracy, economic and social this age group has a wider repertoire rights, freedom and participation. Presidência da República (2010). Balanço de to face intergenerational conflicts Governo 2003-2010. Brasília. (Brazilian Federal The presence of adolescents showed and produce new and healthier Government Balance). their potential to contribute to building relationships with adults. a more democratic society and UNICEF (2011). Situation of the World Children 2011. New York. strengthened their role as Concluding remarks new social actors. The human-rights-based approach UNICEF (2011). Situação da Adolescência applied to children’s rights transform Brasileira 2011 – O Direito de Ser Adolescente, 7. The adolescent phase of life as Brasília. (Brazilian Adolescents Situation – children and adolescents as subjects of crucial and unique to develop The Right to be an adolescent). rights, demanding special protection for specific life skills: Adolescents can the condition of each specific developing UNICEF/IBOPE (2013). O uso da Internet play an important role in their own por adolescentes, UNICEF, Brasília. developmental process by acquiring stage of their lives, and the responsibility (Adolescents use of internet). fundamental skills, from social of governments, society and families to fulfill their rights as the main social priority. Visão Mundial (2011). Estudo sobre as participation to self-protective políticas públicas de proteção à saúde infantil skills. Many actors can support the e materna no Brasil: um olhar especial para This turning point can be observed by development of such skills, including os filhos de mães adolescentes. Recife. an impressive level of investment in (Study on public policies to protect maternal families, schools, peers, communities public policies, social mobilisation, the and child health in Brazil: a special look for and governments. the children of adolescent mothers). multitude of initiatives from civil society The UNICEF Brazil office and partners organisation such as non-governmental have systematised 20 competencies organisations, institutes and foundations, for life which could help adolescents the involvement of adolescents in 1. Mário Volpi is an Adolescent and Youth to improve their own development. participatory processes, new studies, Specialist and coordinates the UNICEF National Programme on Adolescence. This article received These competencies are aligned research and the generation of public contributions from Niklas Stephan, Assessor of with adolescents’ life projects and policy proposals and plans. South–South Cooperation, UNICEF Brazil.
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 9 A Brief Overview of Youth Turnover in the Brazilian Formal Labour Market1 by Carlos Henrique Corseuil and Miguel Foguel , Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA); Gustavo Gonzaga, Catholic University of Rio (PUC-Rio) and Eduardo P. Ribeiro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Some of the most worrisome and low levels of training and the destruction young workers hired as a share of the age widespread stylised facts in economics of job-specific human capital. category is double the figure for adults. are the low employment rates and the The average 92.6 per cent hiring rate for related high unemployment rates of The contribution made by this article young people suggests that for any 10 young workers. Brazil is no exception in to the policy debate on the issue is the employed youths, nine were hired over this regard. According to a nationwide provision of a sharper picture of the youth the course of the year, allowing for household survey (PNAD/IBGE), the labour market through little-used but the same person to be hired more than unemployment rate for 15–24-year-olds important lenses: worker flows in and out once over the year. was 16.3 per cent in 2011, while the rates of jobs (hiring and firing) and job openings observed for ages 25–49 and 50+ were and closings. We overcome the lack of The same figure for adults is less than 5.7 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively. appropriate data by exploring a very rich half, at 42.8 per cent. Using the water set of data (RAIS/MTE) that tracks new hires tank example, twice as much water Unemployment and employment levels and separations (either those fired or who flows from the youth faucet as the can be understood as the workings of a quit), with detailed information from both faucet for older workers. water tank, with inflows to and outflows companies and workers, with a long-term from employment representing a faucet look over the period from 1996 to 2010.2 Yet very often, young people will quit or and a drain, respectively. Employment Here, young workers are considered those be laid off. Younger workers lose their levels (the water levels in the tank) from 14 to 23 years of age. Older workers jobs far more frequently than older rise if inflows are larger than outflows. are those from 24 to 60 years of age. workers. The separation rate, which Employment levels decrease if outflows measures the number of workers leaving are larger than inflows. Large outflows The first startling fact is that it is not hard their jobs, either because they were signal short periods of employment, for a young worker to enter the labour fired or quit, relative to the number of on average, accompanied by job insecurity, market. In any given year the number of employed youths is as high as 72.4 per cent. Seven of every 10 workers, on average, may leave their jobs over the course of a year. Alternatively, there are workers that leave their jobs much more often than once a year. The separation rate for older workers is a little less than half, fluctuating around 41.3 per cent.
Net employment growth rates are always 15 percentage points higher for younger workers than for older workers. Continuing with our analogy, the faucet for younger workers is open far wider than that of older workers. However, while the youth faucet is open wider, the outflow (or drainage rate) is much smaller relative to the inflow, raising the level of the water tank much faster for young people.
Together, both the higher hiring and separation rates indicate a more turbulent job market for young workers, with short periods of employment, associated with higher separation rates, coexisting with quick entry into employment, on average, Source: Couseuil, C.H., Foguel, G., Gonzaga, G. and Ribeiro E. (2013). via higher hiring rates. These conditions present trade-offs. On the one hand,
10
To reduce labour turnover, the main focus of policy should be “ the separation rate.
Though hires and separations are interrelated, tackling the high rate of separations looks more efficient, as it directly attempts to keep workers employed for longer periods of time.
Photo: A sugar cane cutter: One example of the kinds of temporary, unstable jobs available to youth in Brazil, UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe. transiting across many different jobs This leads to one important policy separations are interrelated, tackling may enhance better employer–employee question: Should one consider worker- the high rate of separations looks more matching with firms. On the other hand, or company-oriented policies to foster efficient, as it directly attempts to entering and leaving jobs very easily tends youth employment? keep workers employed for longer to depress the acquisition of general and The answer to this question depends periods of time. company-specific labour experience. on whether younger workers are Job search assistance initiatives thus Since the accumulation of this type of disproportionally found in companies that will be rather ineffective, unless they are human capital is important, the elevated possess high turnover rates, compared capable of generating pairings of workers turnover experienced by young workers in to older workers. For instance, young and companies that produce longer Brazil is a factor that hinders the increase workers may be employed in industries periods of employment. in their (future) productivity and wages. with a high turnover of employees, such as construction or the retail trade. The focus should be on creating incentives The sheer number of youth transitions Our estimates clearly show that businesses for companies and young workers to into and out of jobs has raised some in high-turnover sectors tend to employ increase the value of longer working questions. First, whether some firms are a higher share of young workers relationships. Company subsidies to consistently replacing older workers with (see Corseuil et al., 2013). Therefore, extend the tenure of younger workers young ones, or, actually, whether their job the high turnover rates for young should be thought about very carefully, opportunities are segregated. workers may be, at least in part, due to in particular because of the potentially high associated fiscal costs. Finally, the presence of this group across certain From the set of all young worker training programmes partially funded industries and demonstrate that labour separations in the country, in any given by the worker and the employer may turnover may be reduced by focusing formal company, we estimate that the create incentives for both parties on policies for high-turnover companies. share of substitution of one type of to invest in each other in the Before moving to our final comments, worker for the other (youth and adults) longer term. for these separations never surpasses the one must first recognise that there are other significant factors at play, as we 5 per cent level over the entire period of Corseuil, C. H. ; Foguel, M.; Gonzaga, G.; Ribeiro, analysis. Replacement within the same age found out, such as the worker’s education E. (2013). A rotatividade dos jovens no mercado category is the more common prospect level. In this sense, the more the education de trabalho formal brasileiro. In Mercado de policy accelerates the increase of the Trabalho: Conjuntura e Análise n.55. IPEA, after a separation. About 30–40 per cent of
– the Ministry of Labour and Employment in Brazil benefits, do not explain the high rates turnover, the main focus of policy should (MTE). It gathers information provided every of worker turnover. be the separation rate. Though hires and year by all registered companies in the country.
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 11 Youth and Employment: a Contribution to the Dialogue on Public Policy by Ana Laura Lobato1 and Valéria Viana Labrea,2 General Secretariat of the Brazilian Presidency (SG-PR)
Poverty, and the social exclusion especially those in low-income families, as When we consider that 53.5 per cent stemming from it, is one of the main completing high school does not seemingly of young people work, and only 52.7 reasons why Brazilian youth are somewhat translate into obtaining a good job. per cent of these hold formal jobs, Figure1 disengaged from society and the national shows that those with formal jobs are labour market. Participation in the labour The vast majority of young people well distributed across schooling levels, market is strongly influenced by the enter the labour market precariously, and, with the figure increasing proportionally characteristics of structural inequality in once they start working, their investment among those who continue their studies Brazilian society—be it by gender, age, in studies is seen to decline, making the after high school. colour or geography. prospects of finding a better job in the future more difficult. This situation creates It should be noted that work solely for The 2010 Census of The Brazilian Institute a cycle of insecurity and instability that one’s own consumption is restricted of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows follows such individuals into adulthood. to those with little or no education. that men enjoy greater access to work than Programmes for strengthening family women, and the older the individual, the This is why it is so important to have farming have had a significant effect on greater their chances seem to be of finding public policies in place that promote ensuring the livelihoods of those who live a job. Additionally, white urban youth have the continuation of studies, staying in in rural areas, who are also the least likely greater access to employment than black school and enrolment in higher education to stay in school. youth or those living in rural areas. among young people, that is, to increase (Lobato & Labrea, 2013). the possibility of landing steady jobs and Given the above scenario, it can be stated enabling young people to gain experience that government social programmes Young people currently account for and break the cycle of exclusion. that work with families are fundamental 26.9 per cent of Brazil’s population— to combating poverty, as they offer the highest share of the country’s According to the 2010 Census of IBGE, the conditions for families to restructure demographic curve. This scenario, however, majority of young people (40.5 per cent) themselves by ensuring the livelihood will not persist, given declining fertility only work, 23.7 per cent neither study nor of family members. In general, both young rates. This segment of the population is work, and 13 per cent study and work. people and adults need public policies that predominantly urban (84.7 per cent) and Few young people can afford to only provide them with better living conditions, almost evenly distributed between blacks study (22 per cent). a return to school, vocational training and, and whites (53.7 per cent and 44.7 per cent, consequently, better qualifications for This finding lends further weight to the respectively). Young people are mostly entering or returning to the labour market. argument that the State needs to invest single (83.9 per cent). This may in part be in policies that focus on keeping young explained by the increase in pre-marital It is understood that access to sex, greater access to contraception, and, people in school, ensuring access to quality education and entering the thus, a tendency to marry or have stable universities and inclusion strategies labour market safely and with more relationships later in life (IBGE, 2010). of quality and safe entry into the qualifications are the main mechanisms labour market. for promoting social inclusion, personal The expansion of the basic education autonomy and socialised entry into Another factor that showcases the need network has led to a national literacy rate adulthood. Alternatives need to be for policies that focus on education and of 97.2 per cent among young people, developed and offered so that the employment in Brazil is the concentration although only 35.8 per cent of the total educational process can provide of young people with only primary- or are currently attending school. From suitable conditions for safe and qualified secondary-level schooling (34.7 and 2000 to 2010, there was an increase in participation in the labour market. the proportion of young people entering 46.3 per cent, respectively). the labour market—a total of 53.5 per Public policies that favour the inclusion For young people who have completed cent versus 44.8 per cent in the previous of professional training as early as in basic elementary or middle school, the decade (IBGE, 2010). education, to promote actual chances of likelihood of working is almost 50 per employment upon graduation from high 3 This observation suggests that education cent higher, in both cases. That means school, should be prioritised. is directly linked to access to the labour the chances of entering the labour market market. However, combining work and will only increase once the individual Guaranteed employment offers, as studies is difficult for young people, enters systems of higher education. indicated by the Organisation for
12 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2012), are ways of offering work experience, a key element not only for generating employment but for building a career, to the extent that learning a craft stimulates further training focused on certain occupations.
Professional internship and learning programmes must be monitored and evaluated frequently in Brazil by educational coordinators, so that companies and young people can forge a relationship with transparency in respect to the roles and responsibilities of each party under this type of contract.
This also increases the job opportunities available for young people to engage in, thus decreasing their likelihood of abandoning jobs due to dissatisfaction.
However, the offer of professional courses must be accompanied by mapping out territorial occupations, thus optimising Source: (IBGE, 2010). the interest and employability of young people in such activities. Gender-neutral encompasses 16 programmes and 26 goals, Lobato, Ana Laura & Labrea, Valéria Viana. (2013). stimuli provided to men and women alike which, together, amount to 83 strategic Juventude e trabalho: Contribuição para o are a decisive factor in reducing gender diálogo com as políticas públicas. In: Mercado youth-oriented goals.4 inequality in the labour market. de trabalho: conjuntura e análise / Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada; Ministério do The National Youth Secretariat acts as a Trabalho e Emprego.- n. 55, ano 18, agosto 2013, Such priorities are aimed at the coordinator of the National Youth Policy,
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 13 Youth Employment Policies of the Russian Federation: Opportunities and Challenges1 by Alexandra Karpova, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona; Anna Bilous, University of Cambridge & Michael MacLennan, IPC-IG/UNDP
The world is witnessing the largest unemployment, to create an integrated and important implications for both Russian youth population in its history; as of 2014 safe society with more equal opportunities economic growth and employment there are more than 1.2 billion young for young people from various backgrounds, prospects (UNDP, 2010). people between 15 and 24 years of age. to provide broader access to education and Simultaneously, unemployment among to stimulate the personal and professional In additional to demographic issues, young people has emerged as a significant development of young people. inequality both within and between problem the world over. According to regions has produced particular realities the International Labour Organization The social and political transformations of that are reflected in the picture of youth Global Employment Trends for Youth the 1980s and 1990s of both the Russian unemployment in the Russian Federation. 2013 report, two thirds of youth in some Federation and the former Soviet Union, Such particularities, as well as some of the developing countries are unemployed resulted in a dramatic decline in birth challenges that young people face, will or working in low-quality, irregular or rates, creating a significant decline in the be explored alongside some of the youth low-wage jobs. In light of this present- number of young people in the Russian policies in place to tackle such issues in the day demographic situation, problems Federation from 2004 onwards. A report country, to gain a better understanding of youth unemployment have become by the United Nations Development of the value of acknowledging structural more of a central issue within broader Programme (UNDP) on the Russian inequalities among youth within the socio-economic agendas of the Russian Federation’s demographic challenges process of policy development to address Federation as in other countries. illustrates that even if birth rates were to unemployment. continue to rise (as they have since the end Policymakers all over the world are trying of the 1990s) over the course of several Although the economic situation in the to develop appropriate social policies years, the Russian working-age population Russian Federation has significantly to address the core challenges that would still continue to shrink over the improved since the 1990s, there are today’s youth population is facing. Such long term due to broader demographic estimates that indicate that up to 30 per policies include those aiming to fight changes and population decline. This has cent of the Russian population is still living in poverty and that the Russian economy is by no means immune to external shocks, such as the global economic crisis of 2008 (Russian Academy of Science, 2013). Moreover, there continue to be significant disparities in living conditions and broader life opportunities among young people living in different regions of the country. High levels of inequality between regions as well as between households and individuals can dramatically affect many young people due to the economic situation of their respective regions, as well as their socio-economic or family profiles.
Nevertheless, education seems to be a way forward to rectify such inequalities, and can be one of the most important factors to influence the capacity of young people to enter and sustain themselves in the labour market.
Focusing on youth unemployment, as reported by Rosstat, in December 2013 the rate of unemployment among young people 15–24 years of age was 20.73 per Source: UNDP, 2010. cent. Unemployment rates among young
14
Data has shown that the structural and regional inequalities at “play within the Russian Federation have created a dramatic mismatch between the skills needed in the labour market and the education received by young people in particular regions and professions.
Source: Rosstat, 2011. people are relatively similar between The Russian Federation’s youth-oriented policies to address these structural challenges urban and rural areas. In urban areas are framed within the Strategy of State Policies Concerning Youth. The current strategy it was lower, at 19.85 per cent, while was adopted in 2006 for a period of 10 years. The next strategy is currently being in rural areas it was 21.6 per cent. The developed and will be launched in 2016. The strategy seeks to stimulate the systemic percentage of unemployed people tends integration of young people and build awareness about the various possibilities of to decrease rapidly after people reach personal and professional growth available, supporting and promoting active and 25 years of age. Based on the same data, talented youth, and integrating and providing equal opportunities for people from the unemployment rate among youth various backgrounds and groups. The way the 2006 strategy connects with other state of 15–24 years of age is seen to be 2.9 initiatives is described in Box 2. times higher than the unemployment rate among people 30–49 years of age. A fundamental step towards achieving the goals of the 2006 youth strategy is to identify, To contextualise these figures, the level promote and otherwise support active youth and their achievements in socio-economic, of unemployment for the whole Russian civic and political spheres as well as the arts and sport. The current strategy introduced a population of working age (15–72 years set of policies directed towards youth employment and preparing young people for their old) at the same time was only 5.6 per cent. future social and professional lives. Box 3 introduces the main social programmes created to promote such goals. It becomes quite clear that the level of youth unemployment can vary greatly Apart from the programmes identified in the strategy, the aforementioned importance by region. The three regions with the of education is something of which the Russian government seems to be well aware, highest levels of youth unemployment are the Republic of Ingushetia, the Chechen Republic and the Republic Tyva (Rosstat, 2014). Yet it is interesting to note that around 30 per cent of all unemployed people in Russia use the services of the Russian Employment Service to find a new job, which shows the relative popularity of the system of measures adopted by the State to address this problem.
Data has shown that the structural and regional inequalities at play within the Russian Federation have created a dramatic mismatch between the skills needed in the labour market and the education received by young people in particular regions and professions. This seemingly complex environment is riddled with obstacles that need to be overcome. Among other initiatives, Russian social policy may provide some assistance to do so. Source: Tsogoev, 2013.
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 15 economically depressed regions. The programme is set to provide annual funding of RUB45 billion (approximately US$1.28 billion) over three years to support the employment of disadvantaged groups (Golodets, 2013). Funds will be used to encourage entrepreneurs to hire socially vulnerable groups (residents of depressed regions, young people, first-time job seekers, and persons with disabilities). The Deputy Prime Minister expects that about 100,000 Russians will be able to obtain government aid in 2014 under this ‘New Employment’ programme.
According to Olga Golodets, the economy and industry in many regions of the country are currently hampered by a lack of personnel. The federal New Employment Programme has been designed to help to resolve this issue. The project will help regions experiencing shortages of highly qualified specialists and skilled workers to attract skilled young people from other regions. Nevertheless, the programme has Source: Rosstat, 2014. not yet been approved, and there is the concern that it could be postponed due in addition to the importance of The high levels of unemployment among to a lack of funding available in the federal continued economic and social young people demand new solutions budget. In any case, the move to address development. As such, in 2005, from the Russian authorities. Now that different types of inequalities in existence President Vladimir Putin launched four the new youth strategy for 2016 is being in the Russian Federation within a policy national priority projects to foster the actively debated, some improvements at or programme is a good step forward to development of human capital. One of the policy level may be in the process of begin to address such issues. these national projects was aptly named being made. For instance, in September ‘Education’, aimed at developing the 2013 Russian Deputy Premier Minister However, taking into account the huge conditions for exploring the potential Olga Golodets announced plans that the disparities between urban and rural for innovation among Russian youth, Russian government would adopt a new areas, and between different regions of through the development of state employment programme to stimulate the Russian Federation, it is questionable universities, programmes and initiatives the employment of young people, to what extent the federal level is to help foster innovation. The programme persons with disabilities, and residents of appropriate for decision-making and was set up to provide financial aid on a competitive basis to the best students, teachers, schools and universities through a system of contests and grants.
An emphasis on education is by no means wrong, but perhaps more could be done to address the particular nature of regional as well as socio-economic inequality in the Russian Federation.
Due to the incentives at play and the differences in education provision across the country, such financial aid provided on a competitive basis may indeed fail to reach those who need it most, and the goal of developing the potential of youth that are boxed out of access to funds based solely on their success in contests or grant writing. Source: Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, 2006.
16 implementation of all aspects of youth policy. It seems important for Russian regions to develop their own programmes aimed at increasing youth employment based on local realities. The involvement of young people as well as educational institutions and local businesses in the development of programmes could be beneficial for identifying existing needs and finding appropriate solutions.
The development of internships for students, support for entrepreneurial initiatives for young people, advice about job opportunities and additional professional training or young people may be other prospective activities that local or regional agencies may be able to take part in designing.
Moreover, programmes that provide further assistance to vulnerable groups such as those of particular marginalised groups, in addition to persons with disabilities, orphans and children from large families, are needed to deal with poverty and improve living standards for young people in every part of the country.
Davydov, I. (2006). ‘The Bologna Process and the New Reforms of Russian Education’, Russian Education and Society, Vol. 48, No. 7, July: 17–32.
Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (2014). ‘Projects’, Federal Agency for Youth Affairs website,
Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (2006). ‘Strategy of State Policies Concerning Youth’, Decision No. 1760p of 18 December 2006 Source: This young woman is employed at a Bakery near the Magas Collective Centre for displaced Ingush people from North Ossetia. The Republic of Ingushetia has one of the Government of the Russian Federation, of the highest regional youth unemployment rates in the Russian Federation,
Golodets, O. (2013). ‘Speech on the employment Perfilieva, O. (2009). Country Sheet on Youth Tsogoev, V. (2013). ‘Legislation about Youth situation in Russia’, Meeting with Deputy Policy: Russia. Strasbourg, Council of Europe and Youth Policy’, in A. Lukov (ed.), State Youth Prime Ministers: measure to eliminate the Directorate of Youth and Sport,
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Academy of Science, Institute of Russian Federation (2013). Russian Youth 2000– Sociology (2013). ‘Analytical report. Poverty 2025: Development of Human Capital. Moscow, and Inequality in Modern Russia: 10 years later’, Ministry of Education and Science,
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 17 Social Policy in India: Impacts and Challenges for Youth by Jayati Ghosh, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Defining social policy aggregate social productivity of labour some degree of political voice. Even Social policy refers broadly to the set of through the universal provision of good so, at least some of the social effects of state interventions that directly affects education and basic health services. Overall, modernisation have been achieved, in social welfare, social institutions and social therefore, social policy can increase social that the most destabilising effects have relations. This is not just the outcome cohesion, reduce gender discrimination, been avoided. The legitimisation of and, of simple welfare considerations but, ensure the legitimacy of the political order indeed, the social acceptance of the rather, a key instrument in the process of and contribute to political stability, which suppression of current consumption on development, which works in association in turn is essential for any sustainable the part of workers and peasants has with economic policy as part of a broader economic growth process. also been achieved; however, this has strategy. Thus, it is important not only from not been equally true of the economic a humanitarian perspective; rather, it also The latter impact makes it particularly elites, who have been unwilling to accept responds to the economic and political important for dealing with the problems the economic discipline necessary for a imperative for future growth and political faced by youth, especially in developing sustained path of aggregate development. stability, and is particularly significant in countries. It becomes especially important In a longer-term sense the economic maintaining broader public support for for countries that could be reaping the regime and associated social policy has governments that are engaged in the advantages of a demographic dividend failed miserably at raising aggregate social process of economic transformations. because of a youth population bulge but labour productivity and reducing the do not have other conducive features such employment slack in the system. At the most basic level, social policies of as adequate nutrition and health, or good- different types are crucial to the State’s quality education and skills training. The more significant forms of social policy capacity to ‘manage’ modernisation, in the Indian context have included and along with it the huge economic and Social policy in India agrarian reform; food procurement and social shocks that are necessarily generated. In India, however, social policy has not distribution; education; employment They provide sources of legitimisation— really been used as a basic instrument of creation through public works; affirmative not only of the State, but also of the development strategies in this manner. action for employment in public services development project itself—and serve Rather, it has emerged essentially in the and educational institutions; anti-poverty as cushions to dampen the worst social form of ad hoc responses to particular programmes directed towards small asset effects of cyclical volatility and crisis. demands emanating from groups that creation or micro credit; and changes in Effective social policy can increase the (at least temporarily) have acquired the forms and structures of governance
Source: Extracted from IIPS and Macro International (2007a): Table 10.22.1. Please refer to the original table for further information disaggregated by background characteristics (i.e. marital status; residence; education; religion; caste/tribe; and wealth index). * Excludes pregnant women and women who have given birth in the preceding two months.
18 Source: Extracted from IIPS and Macro International (2007a): Table 10.22.2. Please refer to the original table for further information disaggregated by background characteristics (i.e. marital status; residence; education; religion; caste/tribe; and wealth index). through decentralisation and some deterioration of per capita availability of Employment generation devolution of resources. food grains. According to the most recent Lack of sufficient employment generation National Family Health Survey of 2005-06, and economic diversification are major Land ownership and credit 46 per cent of children below 3 years of age failures of successive growth trajectories There has been no substantial were underweight; 36 per cent of women in India. One attempt to deal with this has transformation of landholding patterns and 34 per cent of men had Body Mass come in the form of a rural employment and agrarian relations across the Index (BMI) below normal; 79 per cent of guarantee programme that currently country through government action, children aged 6–35 months had anaemia, provides an average of around 45 days in the same way as occurred in some as did 56 per cent of every married women of employment per year to nearly 50 countries of East Asia, except for a few aged 15–49 years of age and 24 per cent million rural households. This has a lot states such as Kerala and West Bengal. of similar men; and that 58 per cent of of potential, but it has been unevenly Instead, wealth distribution has become pregnant women had anaemia. All these implemented across states and recently even more unequal, as land and other indicators were much worse in rural has faced waning interest from the natural resources have become more India, especially in states such as Madhya central government. The peak financial concentrated in private hands, displacing Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Table 1 and year for both spending and employment small producers, creating another severe generation under this programme was 2 illustrate the food insecurity of young form of inequality based on financial 2009-10, and since then it has somewhat people in rural areas of India, showing that wealth. The vast numbers of young people declined. However, if imaginatively and around 40 per cent of women between 15 are excluded from most assets, and this effectively utilised, this could become and 29 years of age possess BMIs below combines with an inadequate formal credit an important means of increasing local normal. The same averages apply to the system to severely constrain their income- demand and improving conditions of rural young male rural population, which has generating opportunities. productivity. Widespread informality of even worse BMI figures for those between working conditions further complicates Food security and 15 and 29 years of age. the problem: in 2004-05, only 4 per cent of smallholder agriculture These poor nutrition outcomes refer India’s workforce was employed in formal Food security has emerged as a major jobs subject to labour protection. constraint to growth and a defining to the period before food prices rose political issue. India’s public food significantly in India. Since 2006 the Education and health management system was originally price of basic food items has tripled in Education has, unfortunately, not been a designed to maintain a reasonable degree most major markets in India. The recent priority of government policy or a major of price stability; to provide some producer Food Security Act, which extends access instrument of social policy, and this has incentives to cultivators by ensuring to subsidised food to around two thirds resulted in slow improvements in literacy that prices remained above estimated of the Indian population, is a partial and education for both men and women, costs; and to provide a degree of food attempt to remedy this, but it focuses and significant gender gaps. There has security to consumers. These were never only on subsidised distribution to around been a recent improvement in educational fully achieved, but they were further two thirds of the population, without enrolment at all levels, which is certainly undermined by economic reforms and adequate provisions for ensuring domestic required: the young citizens of India trade liberalisation from the early 1990s production, nor specific recommendations deserve to be better educated, and the that reduced the viability of smallholder to focus on the food security of or job economy desperately needs more skilled cultivation in the context of an overall creation for young people. workers. However, the 55 million youth
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 19 encourage similar action in the private sector. Overall, such affirmative action has had relatively little impact on the broader socio-economic position of the population belonging to the defined social groups, such as Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Other Backward Classes, but this may change over time.
Social policy can play an important role in reversing these failures, from both the supply and demand sides, since it is usually employment-intensive, generates more good-quality jobs and creates a healthier, better educated and productive labour force. These demands—as well as those for an increased provision and better accountability of public services—are increasingly being made by a more aware and dominantly young populace.
Chandrasekhar, C.P. and Ghosh, J. (2011a). ‘The Latest Employment Trends from the NSSO’, MacroScan website,
Source: Chandrasekhar and Ghosh (2011a). Chandrasekhar, C.P. and Ghos, J. (2011b). ‘Deciphering Employment Trends’, MacroScan website,
India: Social Protection and Youth by Ravi S. Srivastava, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Introduction Social protection measures and social population, through its entire life The concept of social protection is protection systems emanate from chronic span. The report of the ILO Advisory anchored in human rights, set out in the as well as contingent insecurities, and the Group points out that social protection Universal Declaration of Human Rights and obligation of social systems to mitigate represents a “win–win investment that subsequent UN conventions. Following such insecurities within the limit of their pays off both in the short term, given its the economic crisis of 2008, the UN has competence and capabilities. Since social effects as a macroeconomic stabilizer, and also mooted the concept of the Social protection covers various dimensions in the long term, due to the impact Protection Floor (SPF). The term has been through the life cycle of the population, on human development and productivity” used to mean a set of basic social rights, its coverage extends to the entire (ILO, 2011a: XXII). services and facilities that the global citizen
20 should enjoy. The 2011 International categories: (1) education, nutrition and health mobilisation, and we consider these Labour Conference has further elaborated support for pre-school and school-aged to be feasible goals (Ibid). on an integrated approach to social children up the age of 14; (2) social health protection, which emphasises its link with protection; (3) food security; (4) employment Youth and social protection labour-market and other policies which and livelihood security for poor people in The Registrar General of India estimates reduce informality, improve productivity both rural and urban areas; (5) state-assisted that the dependent population will decline and create decent jobs (ILO, 2011b). pensions for poor people; (6) housing; and from 42.1 per cent of the total population (7) life and disability coverage. in 2001 to 37.2 per cent in 2011 and 35.7 Social protection in India per cent in 2021, a potential source of a India’s GDP grew by over 18 times its size in The central government has increased demographic dividend. The new National the more than 60 years since 1951-52. its expenditures on social protection Youth Policy (2014) approved by the However, even by the World Bank’s meagre programmes in recent years. As a result, Cabinet in January 2014, will focus on $1.25 a day standard, 42 per cent of the the share of central expenditures in major youth in the age group of 15–29 years of Indian population was poor in 2005, and sectors related to social protection went age, constituting about 28 per cent of the this figure was higher at 75 per cent by up from about one fourth in 1995-96 population or 333 million persons in 2011. the $2 per day criterion. In 2005-06, 43 per to about one third in 2011-12. Central cent of children below the age of 5 were expenditures on these sectors went up However, 44 million Indian youth are underweight, along with 48 per cent who from 1.06 per cent of GDP in 1995-96 to undernourished, which constitutes 23 per were experiencing stunted growth. Since 1.75 per cent of GDP in 2010-11. However, cent of the youth population of India. 1993-94 there has also been a rise in both the total combined expenditures of A large proportion of young people have rural and urban inequality (measured by central and state governments, while low levels of education and skills, live inequality in consumption expenditure, remaining more or less stagnant between in poverty, are unemployed or work in which understates its actual extent). 1995-96 and 2000-01, subsequently low-skilled, precarious jobs in the informal increased from 4.45 per cent in 2000-01 sector (Sinha, 2013). These features of the economy are closely to 5.25 per cent of GDP in 2010-11. linked with the nature of the workforce The recent National Sample Survey Rounds in India, which is characterised by A rights-based on employment/unemployment show that extreme inequalities in outcomes and social protection floor for India unemployment rates among young people incomes, the predominance of agriculture The extension of social protection in are much higher than among the general and self-employment, as well as India over the last few years in a rights- working-age population, especially in the increasing informality. Between 2004-05 based direction, guided by the Directive age group 15–24, and more so among and 2009-10, the percentage of regular Principles of the Indian Constitution, can young females. Unemployment rates also workers in non-agriculture activities, provide the basis for the institution of a rise with education levels, and are much with no written contract, increased from social protection floor. Of the programmes higher for women at high school and 59.2 per cent to 63.2 per cent (Srivastava, discussed, education for children up to higher levels of education—indicative of 2012). At the time of publication, nearly the age of 14, food security and nutrition a serious mismatch between the nature 93 per cent of India’s workforce is informal. support, and rural unskilled employment of supply and demand. Unemployed are now covered by legislative guarantees. youth make up almost half of the total of India is not a signatory to International We have considered these, along with unemployed people, even though young Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 102 three other dimensions—social pensions, people constitute only 21 per cent of the but has well-established social security health and housing—as elements of a total number of adult workers (Ibid). systems providing varying degrees of rights-based social protection floor for Among the employed, young men are coverage in several of the nine branches India (Srivastava, 2013). of the Convention which principally aim more likely to be in casual employment to cover workers in the formal sector. We have estimated the financial costs of than any other workers. Although both achieving such a social protection floor for young men and young women tend to be Direct estimates of the number and type the period up to 2021-22 (the end of India’s employed less in agriculture, young men of employees availing employer-managed 13th Five-Year Plan) based on plausible are much more likely to be working outside social security can be estimated from assumptions regarding rates of growth agriculture, especially in the construction recent National Sample Survey Rounds; and other parameters. sector, and are heavily represented in long- they show that the proportion of all wage distance seasonal migration streams workers outside of agriculture covered We estimate that the additional average (Ibid; Mitra and Verick, 2013). under any social security provision projected financial requirements declined from 32.6 per cent in 1999-2000 would be 0.99 per cent of GDP in the The need to provide jobs for young people th th to 28.6 per cent in 2004-05 and further to 12 Plan and 2.24 per cent in the 13 has to be combined with adequate social 26.4 per cent in 2009-10. Plan. These requirements could go up security, enhancement in education and with assumptions of greater adequacy, skills, and the creation of decent jobs in India also has a plethora of publicly funded particularly for social pensions. the formal sector. As already mentioned, social protection programmes which span We have also considered the financial the most noteworthy of the employment the entire life cycle of poor individuals resources of the government, as well as programmes launched by the Indian and can be grouped under the following the possibilities of additional resource government is the programme launched
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 21 under the National Rural Employment addition to the fact that a Council of the ILO (2011a). Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Prime Minister’s Office now coordinates inclusive Globalisation, Report of the Advisory Guarantee Act. This guarantees up to Group Chaired by Michelle Bachellet. Geneva, 100 days of unskilled work per rural multisectoral initiatives. The National Skill International Labour Organization. Development Corporation, structured as household per year on public works ILO (2011b). Report of the Committee for the projects. Since 2008-09 it has provided a public–private partnership, has been Recurrent Discussion on Social Protection. an average of 2.31 billion person- set up to set curricula, standards and Provision Record 24, 100th session of the International Labour Conference. Geneva, days (persons working per day x days certifications, and to finance initiatives International Labour Organization. worked) of employment to 50.2 million with the close participation of industry, Mitra, A. and S. Verick (2013). ‘Youth Employment households each year. to help boost the employability of those and Unemployment: An Indian Perspective’, ILO seeking to do so. Asia-Pacific Working Paper Series. New Delhi, Two other employment programmes— International Labour Organization Decent Work the National Rural Livelihood Mission (or The social protection strategies described Team for South Asia and Country Office for India. Ajeevika) and the Swarna Jayanti Shahri earlier have led to an increase in real Sinha, P. (2013). Combating Youth Unemployment Rozgar Yojana—operate in rural and incomes and declining poverty, along in India. Berlin, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung urban areas, respectively, and focus on with some improvement in the capabilities Department for Global Policy and Development. job creation through self-employment of poorer young people. However, the Srivastava, R. (2012). ‘Social Protection for promotion, skills development, group major challenge in India today is to pursue Workers in India: Struggling for Basic Rights empowerment, and wage employment in economic strategies, which increase under Increasing Labour Market Flexibility’, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 55, the case of the latter (Srivastava, 2013). employment and to further sustain the No. 3, July–September. expansion of social protection in the Skills development initiatives have been Srivastava, R. (2013). A Social Protection face of the slowing of growth that Floor for India. New Delhi, International significantly upscaled since 2008-09, in has occurred since 2011-12. Labour Organization.
China, Social Protection and Implications for Youth Employment by Minquan Liu, Peking University and Asian Development Bank Institute
Issues of social protection confront development, and finally point to some key investments in health and in education. every country both during and after its future challenges China must address in Both these types of investments can be Lewisian development process. The onset the area of social protection and how these supported by social protection provided to of the international financial crisis in 2008 elements affect youth unemployment. people with a low income. Health insurance has further forced these issues to the is a case in point, but so is the provision of forefront of the international development The long-term role of social protection a social safety net. In many societies, poor agenda. Increasing informalisation of jobs Figure 1 provides a simple conceptual people are also likely to use most of the in response to the crisis in many countries model. In the short run, social protection extra money they receive for children’s has meant a serious scaling back of social may, indeed, have a negative impact education. Indeed, the receipt of social protections previously available. Much on economic growth/development. protection benefits, in the case of direct of the recent discussion of the role and Presumably that is why many developed cash transfers, by a poor family can also impact of social protection has proceeded countries began to introduce labour be made conditional on their children’s in these terms. However, there is a real market reforms a few decades ago that education, as has been tried in some need to go beyond this short-term, crisis- delinked employment from various social Latin American countries. Benefits directly oriented framework and examine the role protections, and why many developing supporting the education of children from and impact of social protection from a countries, including China, have been poor households can also make an impact. longer-term perspective. This is especially reluctant to introduce large-scale social necessary in relation to developing protection measures for employment, For a developing country aiming to countries, whose economic challenges health, safety nets etc. complete its Lewisian development are not only how to respond to the crisis process, and to transform itself into in the short run but, more importantly, But this is a rather short-term view of the a modern, developed one, there is how to promote development in the long impact of social protection. In the long nothing more important than human run. In this article, I shall first conceptually run, social protection can have important capital accumulation. Unless this is done, outline a long-term view of the role of positive effects on a country’s human no external input of physical capital, social protection, then relate that to capital accumulation. Two key channels technology or modern management the recent history of Chinese economic of human capital accumulation are know-hows can be effectively utilised.
22 Figure 1 indicates this second channel of effect leading from social protection to human capital accumulation and, through that, to economic growth and development. As human capital accumulation is necessarily a long-term process, this second channel must be long- term as well. It is important to recognise that social protections will not just be used for increased consumption by recipients here and now; at least part of them can be turned into investments into human capital. In turn, such investments can have a favourable effect, in the long run, on economic growth and development.
In addition to the two aforementioned effects, there can also be a reverse effect from economic growth to social protection and to human capital accumulation (as represented by the two dotted arrows). These reverse effects are also the ones which have traditionally been emphasised in literature on the subject. However, it is important to recognise the important role of social protection on long-term economic growth through increased have been much more market-oriented, and senior secondary education. Thus, human capital accumulation. whose ownership structure has been a according to its 1990 national census data, Social-sector investments lot more privately based, and which have the completion rate of senior secondary and China’s record growth similarly followed an export- and FDI- education of the 1956–1960 cohort was China has had unprecedented rates led development strategy that have not 20.77 per cent, compared with a mere 8.61 of economic growth over the last three recorded such resounding growth as China, per cent for the 1951–1955 cohort—a decades when compared with the record whether contemporaneously with China, difference of 12 percentage points over both of its own past and most other before it or after it? five years. For further details, see Liu (2011). countries over the same period. Over roughly the three decades of 1980–2010 its Once one begins to deliberate over These extraordinary achievements average growth rate was 9.9 per cent, while these questions it becomes clear that in human capital accumulation were the average of the world growth rates was other factors may have a part to play, due to a combination of social-sector around 2.9 per cent, a difference of seven not necessarily as alternatives to the ones investment policies, including direct percentage points. What light does the mentioned above but as complementary public investment in health and education, conception of the role of social protection to them. One factor which will be but also spending on social protections. proposed above shed on understanding emphasised in this article is the extensive These early achievements are important this record growth achieved by China? human capital accumulation achieved complementary factors to the subsequent before the decades of reform, through a reform policies which together led to Existing explanations commonly attribute it combination of social-sector investments, China’s record economic growth rates in to factors such as market-oriented reforms, including various social protection the post-reform decades. ownership changes, and the adoption of measures. When this coupled with the a development strategy based on export other aforementioned factors, it unleashed Social protection in China: and foreign direct investment (FDI). While the unprecedented forces that led to the future challenges these have undoubtedly contributed to unprecedented growth of the economy China has now reached a crucial juncture China’s recent growth, to attribute its entire that the world has witnessed. where it must decide if and how it will growth performance to these factors would vastly expand its social protection coverage not seem to be justified. One must ask if Over the two decades from the first half and if and how it should radically reform these factors independently or combined of the 1950s to the first half of the 1970s, its social protection systems. Among the constituted a necessary or sufficient set of China’s life expectancy increased by a challenges it faces, the most important conditions for China’s economic growth. dramatic 22 years, surpassing even the one is how to unify the two key parts of If they were necessary conditions, what next best performing country by seven the system—that for the urban residents, other crucial factors were involved to years. Over roughly the same period, China and that for the rural farmers. With rapid ensure this success? If, however, they successively achieved vast expansions urbanisation in some parts of the country represent sufficient conditions, then why in general education—first in basic (principally along the eastern coast) and are there countries whose economies literacy, then in primary, junior secondary widespread migration of rural residents
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 23 Many analysts have laid the blame for this falls as age increases (thus a mere 0.06 squarely on the discriminatory policies of the for people aged 50 and above). In some migrant-receiving city or county. However, way, this is only expected, as it would Its [China’s] wide- this is only one side of the story. In one primarily be young people who would scale social-sector eastern county where the present author migrate away from their home village, investments, including carried out a study (Liu, 2012), the ratio of township and county. However, the CASS various social protections, “ local to migrant population was 1:1. Under study also reveals important differences in the pre-reform the current Chinese system of decentralised in the predicted probability of migration decades created a fiscal responsibilities, social-sector spending according to education status. Thus for robust and highly is entirely to be borne by local authorities. the 16–20 age cohort, while a person educated As such it would be difficult to expect any with senior secondary education has a young workforce. county authority in these cases to adopt probability of migrating of 0.505, a person a completely non-discriminatory social with primary education has a probability protection policy towards its local citizens of 0.189. This, of course, reveals the great from other regions, from across the country, and the migrant population. needs of employers in cities and in the to eastern coastal areas, it also means how more developed regions of China for a to unify social protections offered to the As China attempts to reform its social better-educated workforce. It is not clear locals and those to the incoming migrants protection system, attention will if their demands are already being met. in a city or county. Aside from the deeply have to be paid to also reforming the For China, the education of young people ethical issues these divides inevitably raise, current system of decentralised fiscal has a particular significance. It could mean there are also issues about the economic responsibilities. The other tiers of the success or failure of that development impact these divides have on the continued government, including the municipality, process being completed, and yet no development of the economy. provincial and even the central country can succeed in its development government, will have to shoulder greater In this respect, the case of the migrants is ambitions until and unless this education responsibilities before the current fractures particularly striking. The social protections process is completed. Thus, while for a of the system can be removed. to which they are entitled are provided by developed country more or less education their home village, township or county, be How to make social protection benefits for young people would simply mean it the land they are eligible to receive or that are enjoyed by urban residents also more or less youth employment, for a subcontract or the opportunity to send available to its rural residents, while not developing country more or less education children to schools or to join a home- pulling down the levels now enjoyed by for young people would mean both this and, importantly, the success or failure of county new cooperative rural medical urban residents, and how to make the its development efforts. insurance scheme. On the other hand, the social protection benefits enjoyed by local place of their economic activity, and hence residents also available to the migrant also where ideally they should receive their The case of China appears to illustrate population, while not pulling down the social protection benefits, is their adopted exactly this point. Its wide-scale social- levels now enjoyed by local residents, are city or county. This de-coupling of the two sector investments, including various social the two twin challenges facing the new locations has caused many families to be protections, in the pre-reform decades Chinese government as it attempts to build split, with some members (usually one or created a robust and highly educated up a new, more equitable system of social both parents) living in an adopted city, but young workforce, which would later protection. Given their important role in others (sons and daughters) living in home be needed in the post-reform decades promoting human capital investment, these villages. The longer-term impact of this on of reform and development, thereby issues are both about equity and about the human capital accumulation, in terms of contributing crucially to China’s record missed education and skewed physical and prospect of long-term sustained economic growth. The case of China also indicates its mental health development of the children, development of the country. current challenges. Further expansion and can potentially be huge, which can in turn unification of its dualistic social protection Social protection and youth employment have serious negative repercussions on system would appear to be central tasks as For a developing economy such as China’s future development potential. China seeks to find new ways of ensuring China, but also other BRICS countries, the continued development. Even for those children who do move Lewisian process would entail high rates with parents to a newly adopted city, their of rural-to-urban and/or regional migration. Long-term development policies aimed to Du, Y. (2009). ‘Recent Trend in the Chinese Labor opportunities to receive normal education Market and Their Impact on Income Inequality’, and health care as local children can be achieve poverty reduction/eradication and mimeo,
24 Public Works, Job Creation and Poverty Reduction in Rural China by Zhu Ling, Institute of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS)1
In the past three decades China has achieved great progress in the fight against poverty. Measured against the poverty line set by the World Bank (US$1.25/day per capita consumption or income), China’s incidence of urban poverty dropped from 44.5 per cent in 1981 to 0.9 per cent in 2008, whereas the incidence of rural poverty dropped from 94.2 per cent to 22.3 per cent during the same period. For the period 2011–2020 the Chinese government initiated a new programme for rural poverty reduction and lifted the poverty line to Yuan 2300 per capita annual net income, equivalent to US$1.8 per day at 2005 purchasing power parity. Measured by the new poverty threshold, in 2011 the number of poor people in rural areas was estimated at 128 million—or 13.4 per cent of the total rural population.
The significant achievement in poverty reduction is largely attributed to rapid economic growth and comprehensive antipoverty measures. ‘To offer job opportunities to replace sheer relief’ Source: Households Survey Office of the National Bureau of Statistics (2012). Poverty Monitoring Report of Rural (Yigong-daizhen in Chinese) is one of the China 2011 (in Chinese). Beijing, China Statistics Publishing House. measures. Its major content is that the government carries out investment in clothing for poor households. works scheme was then made in cash. infrastructure in poor areas, which, on The public works scheme was designed The size of the annual investment that the the one hand, creates a basis for local with an emphasis on improving production central government made in 592 focused economic growth and, on the other hand, and living conditions in poor areas. poor counties increased to an average of provides short-term employment and Between 1985 and 1997 the central Yuan 4 billion per year (approx.) between income for poor households. government accumulated a stockpile 2002 and 2010, as shown in Figure 1. Such The international community calls this of food grain, edible oil, cotton, cloth intensive investment brought about 3.5 public works. This article provides a brief and medium- or low-grade overstocked million hectares of newly improved farm description of the effects of the public industrial goods valued at Yuan11.8 land, 952,000 kilometres of constructed works scheme on poverty reduction billion for the construction of roads and and upgraded roads and 35 million square and points out the recent development drinking water supply systems, improving metres of housing space for schools, health of employment promotion and social farmland, harnessing rivers, improving the centres and village clinics. Moreover, it also protection in rural China. housing and sanitation facilities of the poor solved the drinking water difficulties for households etc. Farmers participating in the 56.8 million people and 50 million heads of Effects of the public works public works programme were paid either livestock. By the end of 2010, 60.9 per cent programme on poverty reduction with food or vouchers for industrial goods. of rural households living in the targeted In 1978, when rural reform commenced, poor counties had acquired access to 250 million people in rural areas of China By the end of the 1990s China moved drinking water from pipelines and deeply were considered poor. Together with the further from a planned economy to a drilled wells, while 88.4 per cent of the reform, the central government launched market economy, and the government did households used improved sanitation a poverty reduction programme in a few not need to deal directly with overstocked facilities. Furthermore, 88.1 per cent of provinces in western China in 1982 and industrial goods. At the same time the goal villages were connected to public roads, initiated a nationwide antipoverty strategy of food security was virtually achieved; 98 per cent had electricity and 92.9 in 1986, aimed at providing food and therefore, the investment in the public per cent had installed telephones.
The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 25 Source: Ministry of Agriculture, PR China (2009 and 2012). Poverty Monitoring Report of Rural China 2011. China Agricultural Development Report (in Chinese). Beijing, China Agriculture Press. Note: — means no data available. 15 mu = 1 ha. 1US$=Yuan6.8 in 2010.
The projects under the public works scheme considerable remittances to their families has been in place, and now farmers are usually undertaken in slack seasons in their home towns or villages each over 60 years of age are eligible for a and mainly make use of simple labour- year. Table 1 indicates that the share of monthly non-contributory benefit of intensive technology, which has provided non-agricultural labour has risen, while Yuan 55. Moreover, a rural minimum participating farmers with additional the proportion of farming income to living standard guarantee system has sources of non-agricultural income. More total income of an average household been set up to target extremely poor, than 70 per cent of the participants were has declined. However, the share of households, which is financed by both from the age group of 15–45 years of age. non-agricultural labour and non-farming local and central governments. In 2012, The participants’ earnings depend on their income of poor households has apparently 28 million rural households with more skills and workdays, the project duration been smaller than the national average. than 53 million people were assisted and the local wage level. The wage of a with a monthly average cash transfer craftsman or a machine operator has been With the aim of enhancing the abilities of of Yuan 104 per capita. at least double that of unskilled labour. In poor households to access opportunities As of 2012, the central government the central government’s investment plan and share the benefits of economic growth, has undertaken a school feeding the funds to pay labour are clearly listed. the central government has allocated a programme in 699 poor counties For example, in 2009 it was specified that total of Yuan 3 billion to a labour migration Yuan 655 million must be paid to poor promotion scheme (Yulu Jihua in Chinese) that covers 26 million rural children. people who participate in the public works since 2004. By providing occupational At the same time, an experimental scheme, which made up 16.4 per cent of training to young people from poor nutrition programme is being the total project funds. Notably the public households, more than 4 million workers implemented in 100 counties in 10 works have engendered secondary effects had acquired the training, and 80 per provinces, with supplementary food of job creation and income generation. For cent of them had found off-farm jobs up for rural children aged 6–24 months. instance, between 1985 and 1987, when the to the end of 2010. Compared to those remote and mountainous areas in Guizhou without the training, the trained workers In conclusion, China still has a Province in southwestern China were from the same poor areas earned Yuan long way to go to eliminate poverty. connected with 2150 kilometres of public 300–400 more each month. In addition, The government is continuously taking complementary socio-economic and roads, 1331 small-sized enterprises were comprehensive and multidimensional set up near the roads and provided about human resource development projects measures, including the public works 130,000 jobs in coal and metal mining. have been put in place as follows: scheme, to tackle the remaining extreme Off-farm job creation and Extending the social protection poverty and child malnutrition. Growth social protection system from urban to rural areas: promotion, job creation and social An accelerated process of industrialisation Currently, over 95 per cent of rural security programmes, together with and urbanisation since the 1990s has people are part of the medical better education and training, are all enabled around 260 million rural labourers cooperative system. Since the end of part of the efforts being made to achieve to migrate to urban areas2 and provide 2009 an experimental pension system greater progress in poverty reduction.
26 National Bureau of Statistics, PR China (2013). politics/2011-11/16/c_111171617.htm> Monitoring and Survey Report of Rural Migrant (accessed 9 December 2013). 1. Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute Workers 2012 (in Chinese), Central Government of of Economics, Chinese Academy of Social the People’s Republic of China website, Social Safety Nets and Youth Job Creation: The South African Case by Avinash Govindjee, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University The lack of jobs in South Africa (Mabugu and Chitiga-Mabugu, 2014). are in possession of a job (compared with South Africa remains a society In particular, it has been argued that social 40 per cent in most emerging economies) characterised by high levels of poverty, grants actually increase consumption of (National Treasury, 2013). unemployment and inequality. basics such as food and education, thereby Figure 1 shows the striking exclusion of The official unemployment rate in the positively impacting poverty and inequality youth from the South African labour market, country is approximately 25 per cent, (Ibid). Job creation has been less successful both, in comparison to South African and more than 25 per cent of the though, and South Africa continues to face adults and to the youth of other emerging population still live on less than an acute problem of youth unemployment. economies. Figure 1 also reveals that youth $2 dollars per day (UNDP, 2010). About 42 per cent of young people under employment rates in South Africa lag far the age of 30 are unemployed, and only behind all youth employment rates across Part of South Africa’s response one in eight adults under 25 years of age the BRICS nations. The youth employment to the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality over the past two decades has involved the rapid expansion of social grants. In addition, through interventions such as public works programmes and the like, an attempt has been made to create job opportunities on a large scale. In fact, South Africa’s National Planning Commission has identified increasing the number of people working in South Africa as a key strategic priority. The National Development Plan proposes to create 11 million jobs by 2030 through various tactics, including promoting employment in labour-absorbing industries and realising an environment for sustainable employment and inclusive economic growth (National Planning Commission, 2011). South Africa’s social security system has recently been considered to be sustainable by the country’s Human Sciences Research Council (HSCR). Social grant spending is lauded as being an investment in human capital, underpinning future inclusive growth Source: National Treasury, 2013. The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 27 rate in South Africa is approximately 50 per employment and have contributed to the cent less than that of Russia—the 4th worst UIF are only entitled to limited benefits for There is also no in terms of youth employment among a relatively short period of time (in terms firm move afoot BRICS nations. of proposed amendments, to a maximum period of 365 days of benefits in a four- to expand the social This article argues that the South African year period). Large numbers of (informally) grant system to include “ situation is exacerbated by the striking employed persons, and the self-employed, social assistance for disconnect which exists between social are presently precluded from contributing (categories of) the security provision and employment to the UIF. The Unemployment Insurance unemployed—for stimulation in South Africa. Even the recent Act, 2001, which regulates the operation example, through introduction of a youth employment of the UIF, has also been criticised for the introduction of a subsidy for South Africa focuses failing to play a significant role in respect basic income grant more directly on employers, and their of unemployment prevention and needs, rather than on the unemployed in South Africa. Instead, reintegration of unemployed persons into youth. Similarly, extending the period the introduction of a the labour market. However, a ‘training of coverage of the Unemployment youth wage subsidy layoff scheme’ did make use of the Fund to Insurance Fund, and other proposed postpone the operation of retrenchments and newly proposed interventions involving this Fund, is during recent periods of economic stress. legislation in the form of unlikely to alter the unemployment This restricted role of the UIF is partly due the Employment situation significantly. Finally, this article to the absence of a proper statutory basis Services Bill are two will provide some insight and some brief and mandate for it to serve the wider ambit initiatives presently remarks regarding the pending enactment of preventing, combating and minimising being attempted. of the Employment Services Bill in South unemployment and the creation of, for Africa, and its likely impact on the present example, unemployment alleviation situation in the country. schemes (Olivier and Govindjee, 2013). Existing social safety nets in As such, there is little provision made in South Africa and the unemployment gap social security law for (re)integration into The Constitution of the Republic of South the labour market in South Africa (Olivier, Africa was adopted to establish a society 2012). There is also no firm move afoot to based on democratic values, social justice expand the social grant system to include and fundamental human rights. Everyone social assistance for (categories of) the in South Africa has the constitutional right unemployed—for example, through the to have access to social security, including, introduction of a basic income grant in if they are unable to support themselves South Africa. Instead, the introduction of a and their dependants, appropriate social youth wage subsidy and newly proposed assistance, and the State must take legislation in the form of the Employment reasonable legislative and other measures, Services Bill are two initiatives presently within its available means, to achieve being attempted. the progressive realisation of this right. Legislation in South Africa provides for The youth wage subsidy and the a range of social assistance grants as Employment Services Bill well as for social insurance coverage The policy document that sets out the in respect to retirement, worker various policy options to confront youth compensation, unemployment insurance unemployment in South Africa correctly and road accidents. A national health notes that a multi-pronged strategy is insurance arrangement has also required to raise employment and support recently been proposed. social inclusion and social cohesion (National Treasury, 2013). Flowing from The social assistance framework is, however, this, parliament has recently passed law, limited mainly to grants for older persons, which introduces a youth employment disabled persons and children under the subsidy, which aims to address the plight age of 18. Persons between the ages of of young people who have little or no 18 and 60 who have never been formally work experience, in an environment employed are effectively excluded from the where employers loathe the hiring of social security system, neither able to claim more staff. The subsidy attempts to lower social assistance nor able to contribute the relative cost of hiring a young person to the South African Unemployment (while leaving the wage of the employee Insurance Fund (UIF). Even persons unaffected), thereby increasing demand for who have enjoyed a period of formal young workers. An additional benefit is that 28 the work experience and training gained during the period of subsidised work should improve longer-term employment prospects, given that young unemployed people who have some work experience are over three times more likely to find a job than young people without any work experience (Ibid.). It has been argued that although wage subsidies may be successful at creating some jobs in South Africa, they should not be seen as the primary or dominant policy instrument for dealing with the broader unemployment problem. Rather, they should be linked to structured workplace training and be targeted at industries where employment will be responsive to changes in labour costs (Burns, Edwards and Pauw, 2010). In addition, it must be noted that the youth wage subsidy, reminiscent of the introduction of the training layoff scheme, places significant power in the hands of Source: Author’s elaboration. employers in respect to deciding whether or not to partake in the operation of the whatever little they may have been entitled DC, International Food Policy Research to or who are completely excluded from Institute: 1, The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 29 18 Years Old? You Are on your Own: Safety Nets & Youth Employment in South Africa by Marianne S. Ulriksen, Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg and Lauren Graham, Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg Turning 18 should be a moment of old, disabled and young populations receive The term ‘pathways’ refers to the social excited anticipation for the future; a a grant. There are no grants paid to the structures and institutions facilitating moment where a young person starts the working-age population—those between passages from school to work. Heinz transition into adulthood by furthering 18 and 59 years who are not disabled. (2009) argues that institutions intended her/his skills and finding a career that to facilitate transitions to employment are can provide a self-fulfilling living. Yet, in Paying social assistance to the working- not adapted to the changing global labour South Africa, it is also a moment of great age population is more disputed than market, nor are they suited to preparing trepidation. The safety net in the form giving grants to groups perceived as young people for rising skills requirements of the Child Support Grant (CSG) stops; vulnerable. Those who are not too young, of the labour market. In South Africa free public education ends, with future old, disabled or sick are expected to work such institutions are also not sufficiently educational advancement depending on for a living. In the global North social well integrated to intentionally link poor accessing loans or securing sponsorship; assistance to the working-age population young people to more secure and viable and jobs which are increasingly hard is usually regarded as a last resort paid pathways to employment. to come by. In particular, young people only to unemployed persons without who cannot draw on social networks for access to unemployment insurance and Pathways to being a productive citizen financial support and useful contacts are at under the strict conditions of actively In South Africa, grants for poor children, a disadvantage, and patterns of inequality pursuing re-employment. In the global as well as access to free education and and poverty are reinforced. South, where unemployment is high and nutrition, are significant state investments informal sectors large, social assistance to intended to enable poor children to fare This article elaborates on how young the working-age population is regarded as better in the future. In addition, youth people in South Africa lack integrated unfeasible, although programmes linking unemployment has been recognised and government support to help them social assistance with employment are addressed in various ways by the State, transition into economically productive emerging (Leisering and Barrientos, 2013). albeit in an ad hoc manner. For instance, citizens. It is argued that this is largely the State offers low-income students the because public strategies targeting youth Youth unemployment National Student Financial Aid Scheme are fragmented and poorly linked to social Like elsewhere in the global South, (NSFAS), a loan system which pays for policies. New ways that safety nets can be youth unemployment in South Africa post-secondary education fees. better integrated with other strategies are is remarkably high. Forty-five per cent suggested to support young people in the of 18–25-year-olds are currently not The National Youth Development Agency difficult transition to employment. in education or training, nor are they (NYDA) offers training opportunities and employed (Statistics South Africa, 2013). entrepreneurship grants. The Expanded Safety nets The labour market is characterised by high Public Works Programme (EPWP) is a de Safety nets can be understood as social levels of structural unemployment, but also facto cash-for-work programme that assistance (non-contributory payments) increasing demand for skilled employees. includes a quota of positions for young and social insurance (contributory people and is intended to include training. schemes). In the global South, where However, too many young people social insurance schemes are limited to struggle to access post-secondary While these efforts at creating pathways those working in formal and well-paid education and training: the poor quality of to employment for young people are jobs, social assistance programmes have education and high school dropout rates commendable, they also suffer from become more prominent. result in only 41 per cent of young people a range of challenges. For instance, achieving a matric qualification and 8 given the limited training provided, it In South Africa social assistance per cent obtaining a further education is disputed whether EPWP is a feasible programmes (called grants) have expanded qualification (Ibid.). Figure 1 illustrates pathway to ‘real’ jobs (McCord, 2012), and tremendously, with now the correlation between the lack of while NSFAS pay for university or college 16 million South Africans (out of a total formal education/training and youth fees, it does not cover the application fees population of 51 million) benefiting from unemployment rates in South Africa. payable before securing the loan. grants such as the old-age pension, the disability grant and the CSG. All grants are Consequently, once young people age out Current public strategies to enhance means-tested, although set quite high, so of the schooling and grants systems, they pathways to employment for poor young that poor and low-income segments of the face a future that is difficult to navigate. people are limited in reach, fragmented, 30 provide limited training and are inaccessible for the majority of young people. In addition, safety nets in the form of social FIGURE 1 Unemployment Rates by Level of assistance or social insurance are generally Education in South Africa not available for young South Africans. Many would argue that social assistance 35,0 should not be necessary, as young adults 30,0 should be in a position to work and ought 25,0 not rely on state ‘hand-outs’. 20,0 However, the potential transformative 15,0 role of social assistance in making 10,0 and supporting productive citizens is 5,0 overlooked. Young people need financial 0,0 resources to effectively transition to Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 economically productive adulthood 27,1 26,5 26,8 25,2 26,9 26,9 28,7 28,0 29,3 28,7 29,7 27,9 29,0 29,9 29,1 28,4 29,4 29,5 30,2 29,8 29,6 30,3 (Beverly, 2012), to apply for college 24,3 24,1 24,3 23,5 25,4 25,6 25,6 25,6 26,4 27,7 26,6 25,8 27,5 28,2 27,2 25,4 27,1 26,3 26,7 25,4 27,1 27,0 application fees, to search for jobs 10,6 10,3 10,6 8,9 10,5 10,3 11,3 11,4 12,2 12,5 12,3 11,7 11,0 11,7 11,9 11,0 11,8 12,2 11,4 12,3 12,1 12,6 or to invest in starting a business. 5,33,3 3,22,7 3,43,8 4,14,5 5,44,8 4,43,7 4,44,2 4,25,1 5,44,8 5,04,6 5,45,2 15,7 17,6 15,2 12,8 16,9 17,4 14,7 18,7 18,9 16,5 15,9 14,6 12,4 12,7 17,1 15,8 16,4 18,2 11,4 12,0 16,9 16,0 For young people from poor and Other Tertlary Grade 12/Matric Less than Grade 12 Graduates Other low-income households such financial resources are simply not available. Research indicates that cash transfers Source: Statistics South Africa, 2013. in the form of individual development accounts—matched savings accounts development accounts in which a for young people—have positive portion of the CSG money is saved benefits in terms of accessing and towards meeting a young person’s future completing post-secondary education educational or employment needs. Such The potential (Elliott and Sherraden, 2013). a system is likely to be more transformative. transformative role of social assistance in making Safety nets and pathways to employment Safety nets need not be perceived purely and supporting productive Safety nets, in the form of the grants as a last resort for vulnerable groups. “ citizens is overlooked. Young system, may thus have an important In fact, social assistance programmes people need financial role to play in enhancing pathways can complement other strategies that resources to effectively to employment for young people. seek to enhance the capability of young transition to economically people to become economically productive An obvious solution would be to build on productive adulthood citizens. However, exploration as to how this the CSG system where low-income young (Beverly, 2012), to apply for may best be done is needed. people are already registered. In such a college application fees, to complementary post-CSG system young Beverly, S. (2012). ‘Assets for Independence: Asset search for jobs or to invest in Building for and by Young People’, CSD Working people ageing out of the CSG could be Paper Series, No. 12-27, Washington, DC, CSD. starting a business. provided with information about and preferred access to existing mechanisms. Elliott, W. and M. Sherraden (2013). ‘Assets and Educational Achievement: Theory and Evidence’, In this way policies and programmes can Economics of Education Review, 33 (April): 1–7. become more integrated and accessible Heinz, W.R. (2009). ‘Structure and Agency in for eligible youth while requiring minimal Transition Research’, Journal of Education and additional investments. Work, 22 (5): 391–404. Another more constructive, although Leisering, L. and A. Barrientos (2013). ‘Social Citizenship for the Global Poor? The Worldwide probably less popular, option may be to Spread of Social Assistance: Social Citizenship expand the CSG into the early post-18 for the Global Poor?’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 22: S50–S67. transition years on the condition that the money is invested in mechanisms McCord, A. (2012). Public Works and Social that would enable young people to Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Public Works Work for the Poor?. Tokyo, United Nations transition more effectively to employment University Press. (such as post-secondary education Statistics South Africa (2013). Quarterly Labour fees or investment in small businesses); Force Survey 2013, Quarter 3. Pretoria, Statistics or to introduce a system of individual South Africa. The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 31 Job Creation Policies for South African Youth — The Role of Safety Nets by Letlhokwa George Mpedi, Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security Law, University of Johannesburg Introduction social assistance programme does fulfil an been enacted to, among others, provide The term ‘youth’ is generally used in South unemployment assistance function in that an institutional framework to devise Africa to refer to persons between the it covers persons who are too young, old and implement national, sector and ages of 15 and 34. This is broader than the or disabled to work. Nonetheless, it does workplace strategies to develop and United Nations definition, which defines not cover unemployed individuals in need improve the skills of the South African youth as persons between 15 and 24 years who do not fall within these categories. workforce; to provide for learnerships of age. Young people are among the most that lead to recognised occupational vulnerable members of South African Youth not in employment, qualifications; and to provide for the society, facing a variety of challenges—with education or training financing of skills development by high and persistent unemployment being Using the official definition of means of a levy financing scheme some of the most significant. The causes unemployment, which excludes and a National Skills Fund. of youth unemployment in South Africa discouraged work seekers, the Skills development is crucial in job are diverse; they include a general lack of unemployment rate in South Africa is creation endeavours. However, this job opportunities in the labour market, a hovering at about 25 per cent. The brunt cannot be romanticised as the ultimate shortage of appropriate and adequate of the burgeoning unemployment is solution for the South African (youth) skills, early exit from the labour market borne by youth. It is estimated that about unemployment crisis. Also, the current due to the recent recession, and a general 3.3 million of the 10.4 million youth skills development programmes and neglect for young unemployed persons by between the ages of 15 and 24 were not policies are more focused on the unemployment protection schemes. With in employment, education or training in formal sector—much to the neglect all this in mind, this contribution seeks to the third quarter of 2013 (Statistics South of the informal economy. It should be provide an overview of job creation policies Africa, 2013a). noted that the Employment Services Bill (ESB) of 2012 seeks to repeal all for young people in South Africa. Government job creation programmes employment services provisions There is a range of government job Access to social security contained in the SDA. The ESB, once creation programmes for unemployed Section 27(1)(c) of the Constitution of the enacted into law, will mainly provide people, including unemployed youth. Republic of South Africa (1996) provides for public employment services, the As shown in Figure 1, it is estimated that every person, including young persons, establishment of schemes to promote the share of persons who participated in with the right of access to social security. the employment of young work- government job creation programmes Social security in this regard includes both seekers and other vulnerable persons and were employed increased from 57.1 social insurance and social assistance. as well as schemes to assist employees per cent in 2011 to 68.3 per cent in 2012 The State has a constitutional obligation in protected employment enterprises (Statistics South Africa, 2013b). to ensure that this right progressively in distress to retain employment. becomes a reality. However, the right of These programmes include the following: Extended Public Works Programme access to social security is not absolute. (EPWP): One of the key aims of the It depends on the availability of resources Skills development: South Africa has a EPWP is to alleviate poverty and and can be limited by the terms laid out in labour market in which extremes exist unemployment through the intensive the limitation clause of the South African side by side. There is huge demand use of labour via infrastructure Constitution. Nevertheless, young and for highly skilled people despite high projects. The programme is reported unemployed persons are largely excluded unemployment among unskilled people. to have created over 3 million work and marginalised from the protection The dearth of skills is one of the key opportunities as of March 2013 provided by current social security causes of unemployment, particularly (Mathube, 2013). The goal is to create programmes. Social insurance schemes are among young people. This situation 4.5 million work opportunities by invariably based on employment. It follows could be attributed to a lack of relevant March 2014. Available statistics show naturally that young unemployed people experience, a lack of qualifications, that awareness about the EPWP are not covered by the unemployment inadequate training and irrelevant increased from 43.1 per cent in 2011 to insurance scheme. This problem is qualifications. In its quest to (re)skill its 47.7 per cent in 2012 (Statistics South compounded by the absence of an people, South Africa has developed a Africa, 2013b). The overall significance unemployment assistance programme in skills development framework. The Skills of the EPWP as a safety net and a South Africa. It could be argued that the Development Act 97 of 1998 (SDA) has job creator cannot be questioned. 32 South Africa can learn from its BRICS counterpart India and “follow that country’s model of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act—which is much bigger and is guaranteed for all households in India. Source: Statistics South Africa, 2013. However, its reach and impact could be opportunities (National Youth been made in addressing the scourge of bolstered if it were to be reconfigured Development Agency, 2013). unemployment, particularly among youth. as an employment guarantee Employment tax incentive: The government appears to be aware scheme—i.e. a scheme guaranteeing a The legislative framework for the of and concerned about the situation. minimum number of days of work for employment tax incentive scheme, Most importantly, it seems keen to the jobless. Consequently, South Africa which took effect in January 2014 address it. This is apparent from the various can learn from its BRICS counterpart amidst severe opposition from programmes that have been introduced India and follow that country’s model organised labour out of fear that it over the years and the recently enacted of the National Rural Employment would displace unsubsidised workers, ETIA as well as the ESB, which is still Guarantee Act—which is much bigger is set out in the Employment Tax going through the legislative process. and is guaranteed for all households Incentive Act 26 of 2013 (ETIA). Despite all its efforts, the government in India. By instituting the incentive, which should always be aware that job creation Developing entrepreneurship: seeks to complement existing job for young people is not something The National Youth Development creation programmes, the government that it can achieve on its own. It has to Agency (NYDA) is one of the shows that it is concerned about high strengthen the public–private partnership. government’s agencies that strive unemployment (preamble of the ETIA). In addition, the support of organised to develop entrepreneurship among In addition, it acknowledges that the labour should be vigorously sought and young people. The services rendered cost of creating job opportunities not alienated. Failure to do so can only in pursuit of this goal include, among should not be carried by the private cause more harm than good. others, entrepreneurship education, sector alone (Ibid). Additionally, it is business development support, an indication of the government’s and provision of finance for endeavour to support job creation Mathube, K. (2013). ‘EPWP launches new business start-ups. by concentrating on labour market revamped website’, Department of Public Works Newsletter, October 2013 Edition. The successes recorded by the NYDA activation, particularly with regard to during the 2012/2013 financial young job-seekers (Ibid). The incentive National Youth Development Agency (2013). year under its programme area 1: is relatively new, thus it is premature Annual Report 2012–2013. Midrand, National Youth Development Agency: 31. Economic Participation include to make any pronouncements on its the following: R30 million worth of impact on youth unemployment. Statistics South Africa (2013a). Quarterly Labour funding accessed by youth, 3335 jobs Force Survey, Quarter 3, 2013. Pretoria, Statistics created, R37 million worth of Concluding remarks South Africa: xiii. business opportunities accessed South Africa has implemented a variety of Statistics South Africa (2013b). Labour Market by youth entrepreneurs, and 57 programmes to address its unemployment Dynamics in South Africa, 2012. Pretoria, Statistics entrepreneurs accessing business problem. However, little progress has South Africa: i. The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 33 Expanded Public Works Programme: Employing Youth to Build Stronger Communities by Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song, Independent Consultant and Researcher Overall unemployment in South Africa has local governments and focus on projects which enhances the labour force. In this not fallen below 20 per cent in the last 15 and programmes that are labour-intensive area, the programme’s impact varies years. More alarming, however, is that over and address government priorities in these considerably across the various sectors and the same period youth unemployment has sectors. The non-state sector consists of sub-programmes of the EPWP. The work been about twice as high. The causes of the Community Works Programme (CWP) in each of these sectors varies, as does the these extraordinary unemployment rates are and the Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) training and, therefore, the potential for complex. Nevertheless, it is now generally Programme. These are implemented via young people to use this training and work recognised that unemployment is structural, partnerships with communities or non- experience to re-enter and sustain their and that there is a need for a combination government organisations (NGOs) and positions in the labour market. of both policies and instruments to focus on priorities as identified by them, both mitigate the devastating socio- rather than top-down priorities set by the Each sector has identified certain economic effects of unemployment government. The NPO Programme provides opportunities for this ‘graduation’ into and simultaneously create long-term funding to NGOs to cover the wage- other forms of employment. For example, employment on a much larger scale. associated costs of creating employment in the social sector, home-based care at the EPWP minimum wage rate. work can lead to opportunities in the The Expanded Public Works Programme The CWP, which focuses on impoverished health care sector; in the environmental (EPWP) is one of the measures that the communities, in essence employs sector, fire prevention programmes such as South African government has put in community members on an ongoing ‘Working on Fire’ can lead to employment place to mitigate the effects of these high but part-time basis to work on priorities as firefighters with local governments; levels of unemployment. The EPWP is identified by the community itself. The and in infrastructure, construction-related important, as it allows the government to different sectors of the EPWP attract young work experience and training can lead directly create employment for a targeted people in different ways, and it is interesting to work in the trades such as bricklaying group of the unemployed population, in that those with the strongest focus on and plumbing. In some sectors there are particular poor and marginalised youth also opportunities for young people to as well as women. This is different from social and community services have the highest youth participation rates. be employed within the EPWP in skilled other government policies to stimulate job work, such as construction site supervisors, creation, which are generally indirect and While this is significant, there is a need to contractors, data capturers or to help are more difficult to target. reach more young people, and this will be conduct surveys. However, as is the case The most important contribution of the an important focus of the EPWP as it enters with graduation from social protection EPWP is simply creating much-needed work its third five-year phase in 2014. While interventions internationally, the scale for poor unemployed youth and women. fiscal constraints are limiting the scope to of these interventions is much less than In the 2012-13 financial year it provided grow the overall EPWP, it is introducing the number of beneficiaries who actually work to more than 960,000 people various measures to increase the number of participate in the EPWP. For example, 1500 (Department of Public Works, 2013), of participating youth. The first is to prioritise people have gone through a two–three- 3 whom more than 560,000 (60 per cent) available funding for the expansion of year construction contractor learnership were youth.1 This corresponds to two programmes of the non-state sector, programme as part of the EPWP, while approximately 10 per cent of all which employ more young people and 6000 young people are trained annually unemployed youth in South Africa. do so most cost-effectively. More than in construction-related trades. The EPWP generally provides either 70 per cent of those employed by these Despite the low overall labour demand temporary or ongoing part-time work two sub-programmes were South African for low- and semi-skilled labour, there is and provided these young people with an youth. A second measure will be to increase potential to increase the scope of these average of 67 days of paid employment the targeting of young people overall, by interventions and maximise the impact through which they earned R2.6 billion setting a target requirement that 80 of the EPWP on the future employment (US$288 million) of income, or about per cent of all new entrants into the R4600 (US$500) on average each.2 EPWP are between 15 and 35 years old. prospects of participants. This remains a key challenge for the EPWP, mostly because the The EPWP consists of four sectors: The second impact of the EPWP on youth skills and expertise required to effectively infrastructure, social, environmental employment, albeit on a much more implement the right combination of active and non-state. The first three sectors are limited scale, is its provision of work labour market interventions are not located implemented by national, provincial or experience and training to young people, within its project management machinery. 34 For officials working on the EPWP, the main demand on a sustained basis as well as to focus remains on the implementation of build the capabilities of these communities. projects; the related creation of jobs and the The employment capacity and resources to provide the right In the end it is the combination of scenarios in the the different impacts of the EPWP that have combination of services such as vocational National Development Plan training, entrepreneurship support, job the potential to transform communities and show that even if a higher placements, career counselling and access their local economies. It is the combination “ growth rate of 5 per cent to other government opportunities such as of providing income, empowering were sustained until 2030, bursaries and learnerships remains limited. communities to address their own priorities, the unemployment rate improving the local environment and would still be as high as Instead of building such capacity within the infrastructure, providing social services 16.5 per cent without the EPWP, it may make more sense, however, and supporting NGOs that gives the EPWP EPWP in place. to establish or work more closely with the potential to make local economies complementary programmes with the more vibrant and create conditions for Therefore there is a expertise to provide such employment job creation, whether by supporting necessity to strengthen services and which can specifically target young entrepreneurs, community-based communitarian and young people working in the EPWP. organisations, NGOs or the private sector. informal safety nets to work The EPWP would then mainly act as an along those provided by While there are indications that the EPWP instrument to identify young people the government in order to is creating a series of impacts through such who would be able to benefit from provide a socio-economic synergy (Vawda et al., 2013), the challenge these services, without taking on the buffer against the hazards identified for the third phase of the EPWP is responsibility of having to provide these of unemployment. to realise this potential on a national scale. types of employment services itself. This will require a better understanding But perhaps the most important long-term of how such impacts take place, how impacts of the EPWP are its developmental the various EPWP sub-programmes can ones, in particular those on communities maximise their contributions, how to involve and local economies. This is critical because, key stakeholders such as young people, if unemployment is to be significantly and how to improve the coordination reduced, the economy cannot continue to and cooperation between the various rely only on faster economic growth. EPWP programmes and government The employment scenarios in the National departments. Yet at the same time it requires Development Plan show that even if a that the EPWP does not lose focus of its higher growth rate of 5 per cent were core objective of continuing to provide sustained until 2030, the unemployment employment and income to as many poor rate would still be as high as 16.5 per cent unemployed young people as possible. without the EPWP in place. Therefore there is a necessity to strengthen communitarian Department of Cooperative Governance (2011). and informal safety nets to work along Communities at Work. Pretoria, Department those provided by the government in order of Cooperative Governance, The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Policy in Focus 35 International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) United Nations Development Programme SBS, Quadra 1, Bloco J, Ed. BNDES, 13º andar 70076-900 Brasilia, DF - Brazil Telephone: +55 61 2105 5000 E-mail: [email protected] URL: www.ipc-undp.org Promoting jobs to protect today’s youth is vital for the five BRICS countries to live up to the best projections made for their economies and societies up to the middle of the 21st century. To be or not to be the BRICS of inclusive wealth generation and “ growth is not a question but, rather, a challenge that will only be overcome if public policies effectively succeed in reflecting the particularities of youth within policy development across the BRICS countries. Rafael Osório and Pedro Lara de Arruda Its wide-scale social-sector investments, including various social protections, in the pre-reform decades created a robust and highly educated young workforce, which would later be needed in the post-reform decades of reform and development, “ thereby contributing crucially to China’s record growth. Minquan Liu The employment scenarios in the National Development Plan show that even if a higher growth rate of 5 per cent were sustained until 2030, the [South African] unemployment rate would still be as high as 16,5 per cent without the “ EPWP in place. Therefore there is a necessity to strengthen communitarian and informal safety nets to work along those provided by the government in order to provide a socio-economic buffer against the hazards of unemployment. Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song