Learnerships: Focusing on the young unemployed

Much is expected from the new learnership system implemented in South Africa a mere seven years ago as a key component in putting the national skills development strategy (NSDS) into operation. The learnership system is expected to foster skills development in the formal economy, as well as assist new (young) entrants into employment. There is debate as to whether the priority for the system should be to function as a demand-led formal labour market skills tool to fill the need for critical and scarce skills, or as an employment-creation mechanism, and whether it is possible to do both effectively.

It is critical to be able to record the results of the achievement of the dual learnerships targets to meet the challenges of building the system more effectively and efficiently, and to guide the work of sector education and training authorities (Setas), training providers, companies and economic and educational planners.
 Hence, as part of a larger suite of research projects, the Department of Labour commissioned the HSRC to conduct research on the influence of learnerships. The aim of the HSRC research was to investigate the extent and ways in which learnerships are effectively equipping the employed and the unemployed to access and advance through the formal labour market, or to create selfemployment, or to advance to further education and training.

The first step was to determine exactly who had registered for learnership programmes, in which sectors and at what levels. The question was whom the system was potentially catering for, and whether there had been shifts over the period.

The learnership population since 2001

For this purpose, the HSRC created a population database of all those who registered for learnerships in all 23 Setas since the inception of the system.

From the launch of the NSDS Phase I in February 2001 until the middle of NSDS Phase II at the end of May 2007, an impressive total of 243 729 South Africans registered for learnership programmes. The HSRC database provides the first systematic description of the profile of the participants enrolled to date. Across the learnership system, 51% of those enrolled were women, 81% of the total were black learners, 75% were ‘youth' between the ages of 15 and 34, and one out of three resided in Gauteng. Such aggregated trends mask the pathways of the learnership system and the extent to which it is potentially functioning as a means of skills development or employment-creation. Here we provide a number of examples to illustrate trends in demographic profiles by sector and levels of enrolment, indicating shifts in priority between the two phases of the NSDS.

A shifting racial profile

An analysis of the racial profile of participants shows shifts over time. Black representation grew from 60% in the first NSDS phase to 73% in the second NSDS phase, while the proportion for coloured learners stayed at 13% and the percentage for the Indian and white learners was reduced by 2% and 8% respectively (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Percentage distribution of learnerships by race and NSDS Phase

Source: Learnership Contact Database, May 2007 (NSDS Phase I and Phase II)

Black enrolments are in the majority in all Setas except for the Clothing, Textile, Footwear and Leather (CTFL) Seta, where coloured learners, and the Finance, Accounting, Management Consulting and other Financial Services (Fasset) Seta where white learners are in the majority. This reflects old patterns -- the textile industry is traditionally well known for its large numbers of coloured workers and the financial services sector for its over-representation of white workers.

Race and skills level

There is a distinct skewing of registrations at the low, intermediate and high skills levels in terms of the race group of the learner. 

Figure 2: Percentage distribution of learnerships by race groups across the NQF levels

Source: Learnership Contact Database, May 2007 (NSDS Phase I and Phase II)

Figure 2 reflects that the majority of coloured and black learners were enrolled for learnerships at an NQF level lower than five. The largest proportion of the coloured population, almost a third, enrolled for learnerships at the low-skills Level 2. Likewise, the largest proportion of black learners, a third, enrolled at the intermediate skills NQF Level 4.

In contrast, the majority of the Indian and white learners enrolled at NQF Level 4 or above, with the largest proportion, more than 35%, enrolled for learnerships at the high-skills NQF Level 7.

These trends suggest the persistence of unequal patterns of education and training opportunity within the learnership system.

A shift towards youth

The profile of learnership participants is shifting towards a younger age group. In the period of NSDS I, the largest group enrolled for a learnership was between the ages of 26 and 30 (34,4%), whereas in the NSDS II Phase, the largest group, was younger, between 21 and 25 (34,8%) (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Number of learnership enrolments by age category and NSDS Phase

Source: Learnership Contact Database, May 2007 (NSDS Phase I and Phase II)

Tackling unemployment

The database suggests that almost two out of every three participants were unemployed at the time of enrolment for the learnership. This is an indication of the stronger trend to promote learnerships as a means of occupational certification in order to deal with high youth unemployment, and to equip the older unemployed with skills.

The data in Figure 4 suggests that the profile of learnership participants is shifting towards the young unemployed. The majority of 18,2 learners, those who were unemployed at the time of registration, tend to be younger than 18,1 learners, those employed at the time of registration.

Figure 4: Proportional distribution of learnership enrolments by age category and employment status

Source: Learnership Contact Database, May 2007 (NSDS Phase I and Phase III)

Sectoral trends

Figure 5 illustrates the spread of unemployed (18,2) and employed participants (18,1) between the 23 Setas.

Figure 5: Percentage distribution of 18,1 and 18,2 learners by Seta Source: Learnership Contact Database, May 2007 (NSDS Phase I and Phase II)

This dramatically illustrates sectoral differences in the pattern of learnership programmes that cater primarily for enhancing the skills of the employed or for preparing the unemployed to access the workplace.

For the majority of Setas (18), at least 60% of those registered are unemployed.  Only a small set of Setas tends to cater for those who are employed at enrolment (18,1 learners): ETDP Seta, BANKSETA, Fasset, HWSETA and CTFL Seta. Most of these Setas offer programmes at the intermediate and high skills levels. For instance, EDTP Seta offers programmes for teacher upgrading and development, and Fasset programmes cater for professional training of accountants and financial advisers.

A shifting profile needs new strategies

The challenges of creating a new skills development system based on the old fragmented and unequal system of "manpower" training are vast. In practice, the learnership system is increasingly prioritising an employment-creation function, focused on providing skills development for young black participants registered at Level 4 or below. Recognising this shifting profile is an important step for enhancing the effectiveness of the system, whether in terms of funding, focus of programmes, workplace placements or support offered.

The project was conducted by the Education, Science and Skills Development research programme of the Human Sciences Research Council, commissioned by the Department of Labour. The full report, Employment and Learning Pathways of Learnership Participants in the NSDS Phase II, is available on request. Contact Glenda Kruss gkruss@hsrc.ac.za or Mariette Visser mmvisser@ hsrc.ac.za.

The ESSD research team led by Glenda Kruss and Renètte Du Toit, included Mariëtte Visser, Lesley Powell and Elizabeth Earle, with Andre Kraak as leader of the Department of Labour research programme.