Our jobs question is clear – but we now need to turn learning into earning

Opinion Piece

In the weeks after the State of the Nation Address and the Budget Speech, South Africa must focus on outcomes: jobs. The bridge from classroom to digital careers is buildable.

In the weeks after the State of the Nation Address and Budget Speech, the country is again debating jobs, growth and the cost of exclusion. The most practical place to start is the bridge from education to employment.

Across Africa, around 10 to 12 million young people enter the labour market each year, but only about three million formal jobs are created. In South Africa, the gap shows up as a painful paradox: high unemployment alongside real skills shortages. Every year we fail to close it, we lose not just productivity but the tax base, consumer spending, and entrepreneurial energy that a generation of working young people would bring.

Vacancy data continues to point to a persistent shortfall in digital and technical roles, even as official unemployment data shows how hard it is for young people to get a foothold in the labour market. This year’s matric results were a reminder of what is possible, with an 88% pass rate and more than 66% of bachelor passes coming from no-fee schools. But a matric certificate without a pathway is a promissory note the economy has not yet honoured. Our real test is whether we can turn that progress into first jobs.

The paradox we can fix

Three realities shape South Africa’s skills landscape. First, demand is accelerating faster than supply. Xpatweb’s 2025 Critical Skills Survey shows ICT demand rising from 14% to 22% in a year, while engineering roles climbed from 23% to 38%. The rise of AI is compounding this. As automation reshapes industries, the gap between those with digital skills and those without will widen further. 

Countries that invest now in reskilling will gain a competitive edge; those that delay will face deeper structural unemployment.

Second, work-aligned training can outperform traditional routes. When programmes are designed around employer demand — and include workplace readiness and portfolio-building — young people can move into roles faster and stay employed longer. 

At Naspers Labs, we have trained 7,191 young people since 2022, and our partners and employer network have delivered a 95% placement rate into ICT roles.

Yet the wider system still leaks talent. Stats SA reports unemployment of 47.6% for youth whose highest qualification is matric, and 23.9% even for university graduates. Among unemployed youth, 58.7% have no prior work experience. The missing ingredient is not ambition, it is access to training that leads directly to experience and employment.

Third, the model that works is known and replicable. Effective programmes start with employer demand, teach current skills like AI, cloud, cybersecurity and data, and build portfolios and workplace readiness. They measure success by sustained employment, not by course completion.

The jobs exist. Young people want to work. What we have not done is connect the two at scale.

What delivery looks like in practice

What delivery looks like in practice is measurable. Youth unemployment remains high, but demand in digital roles is visible in vacancy data. One national skills snapshot highlights three signals of opportunity:

• 30,000+ ICT jobs are advertised, making up about 26% of all job listings.
• About 118,000 digital roles remain unfilled, a vacancy rate of about 37%.
• Over 41,000 of those vacancies are junior and entry-level roles, and the report estimates junior monthly pay at roughly R25,000.

At Naspers Labs, outcomes are the point, not the afterthought. Our placement rate reflects deliberate choices: we recruit from no-fee schools, prioritise young women (65% of beneficiaries), partner with proven implementers, support graduates after placement, and work to ensure inclusion — including for young people with disabilities.

To scale, government, SETAs and industry can work together to expand outcomes-based training at volume — using the Skills Development Levy and existing mechanisms to back providers that can demonstrate verified employment outcomes. That means setting clear targets (for example 50,000 additional training places a year), strengthening measurement, and funding results (placements and retention), not just activity (enrolments and completion). The SDL generates billions of rands annually, but too little of it reaches the young people who need it most. Redirecting even a fraction toward providers with verified placement outcomes, rather than compliance-driven spending, could transform the pipeline.

Employers also have a critical role — and many already lead by example. Where firms offer structured learnerships, internships and junior roles with clear pathways to permanent employment, training turns into real experience. The opportunity now is to grow these pathways across more companies, publish outcomes more consistently, and deepen partnerships so more young people can transition into work.

We cannot keep celebrating pass rates in isolation

Students, parents and educators deserve visibility on pathways: which institutions, courses and programmes lead to jobs, and which do not. Funding and attention should follow what works.

In a digitally enabled age, much of this information can be at people’s fingertips — what jobs are in demand, what subject choices and results are needed, where to apply for bursaries, and which companies are hiring. Young people already navigate the internet, LinkedIn, TikTok and AI tools daily; they shouldn’t have to wait for guidance to find a path to work. Schools can and should do more, but we can also make these insights easier to access, 24/7.

I have spent two decades in skills development, including at Absa, Sanlam, M-Net, MultiChoice and now Naspers. I have seen what happens when a young person gets a real opportunity backed by structured support. A learner trains in cybersecurity and earns a professional salary within months. A matriculant learns to code and steps into a middle-class future. These outcomes are repeatable.

When we build these bridges, families and communities change.

Research by Naspers and MISTRA estimates that digital platforms could add R91.4 billion to South Africa’s economy by 2035 and support around 340,000 jobs. The human impact is simpler: every young person who moves from unemployment to a career gains dignity, independence and hope.

We have the evidence, and we have working models. The decision is whether we will treat skills as national infrastructure and fund what delivers. If we do, this generation’s promise can become paycheques, not just certificates.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ashika Kirpal is Director of Transformation and Naspers Labs at Naspers. Since 2022, Naspers Labs has trained over 7,000 young South Africans in digital skills, with 95% securing employment in ICT roles.