SA needs vocational training

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Published Jul 25, 2016

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Johannesburg - South Africa will need to address its skills shortage through a dramatic expansion of vocational training to create 3.4 million jobs by 2030, according to McKinsey Global Institute.

 

Partner at the company, Nomfanelo Magwentshu said government and the private sector will need to “join hands” to address weak growth and high unemployment.

Speaking at a two-day Insurance Conference at Sun City, themed “Business Unusual”, Magwentshu said 40-60 percent of youth should graduate from vocational training programmes by 2030, much higher than the current 8 percent.

McKinsey says its “big five” opportunities could potentially add R1 trillion to South Africa's gross domestic product and create millions of jobs by 2030. The main sectors offering opportunities include raw and processed agricultural exports, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure productivity, natural gas and service exports.

McKinsey says investment in these sectors will help boost the country’s gross domestic product by 1.1 percent annually and create much-needed jobs.

Magwentshu warned of the big gap between real growth and that targeted by the government’s National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP targets an average annual growth of 5.4 percent until 2030, a far cry from the around 0.1 percent forecast by several international companies.

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“This reality is even more urgent, and we need more ideas to drive growth to the meet NDP targets.”

With employment on the decline, McKinsey said skills development and input from all sectors is vital in reaching these targets by 2030.

“It is very important to get people to lead and get started on the initiatives.”

Magwentshu said conversations with government are “promising” with interest shown to integrate these initiatives into the economy.

Magwentshu added 7 the recommendations in the 2015 McKinsey report “South Africa's Big Five: Bold Priorities for Inclusive Growth” might be projections but are also dreams that can be met.

LABOUR BUREAU

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