ABSTRACT
The youth wage subsidy proposal generated tensions within National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) that manifested along ideological lines. This chapter begins with an overview of how the youth unemployment crisis manifests in South Africa. It addresses the debates about the proposed legislation, and considers how it could be more effective. Youth unemployment in South Africa was 60% in 2012 using the expanded definition of unemployment. It has remained at over 50% for most of the period since 2012 and peaked at 65.7% in 2017. It only became an issue after the 1994 democratic transition and even more acute following the 2008 global recession. It remained persistently high well after the global crisis. The problem of youth unemployment in South Africa is complicated by the politics of difference: gender, race, and ethnic dimensions. The Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan announced a US$400 million youth wage subsidy in his 2011 budget speech.
