Johannesburg - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Tuesday launch the Youth Employment Service (YES) which sees to help more than one million young South Africans get paid work experience over the next three years.
Ramaphosa said during his State of the Nation Address last month that his administration would place the needs of and opportunities for young people at the centre of inclusive economic growth.
"We are going to embark on a number of measures to address the unemployment challenge," Ramaphosa said then.
South Africa has an unemployment rate of around 27 percent, and the majority of the jobless are young people.
The YES initiative is a partnership, led by Ramaphosa, between government, business, labour and civil society.
READ MORE: Ramaphosa to launch youth employment service
Under the programme, businesses will create one-year paid positions for youth aged between 18 and 35, while which do not have the capacity to place more people in their organisations, have the option of sponsoring the salary for a one-year placement in small and medium enterprises or to help young people start and grow their own businesses through seed funding.
At the launch, Ramaphosa will meet the first 100 young people to participate in this programme.