Abstract
Orientation: South Africa currently has the twin challenges of worsening youth unemployment and scarce skills that threaten its economic and social stability. Artisanal trades are an occupation category that strongly reflects this current problem. Simtech Training Institute in Durban, the study setting, currently trains artisan apprentices and facilitates their internship work placements.Research purpose: The objective of this study was to identify some of the critical success factors that differentiated Simtech artisan apprentices who obtained permanent employment, compared to those who are currently unemployed.Motivation for the study: The main motivation of the study was to improve the conversion rate of artisan apprentices to permanently employed artisans.Research design, approach and method: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted among 51 artisan apprentices who had graduated over the past 3 years at Simtech and who were selected randomly. An online questionnaire comprising primarily Likert scale type questions was utilised to obtain the responses from the sample. Factor analysis was used to remove scale items from the independent variables that did not impact the variability sufficiently. Then the remaining scale items that impacted variability significantly were combined and categorised as new composite independent variables. Logistic regression analysis identified success factors for permanent employment of Simtech graduates.Main findings: Internship or workplace environment had a statistically significant impact on permanent employment. Youth work ethic had a minor impact on permanent employment status – albeit not a statistically significant one.Practical/managerial implications: These findings showed that improving the internship/ workplace environment can reduce youth unemployment and address skills scarcity.Contribution: Internship host companies and other stakeholders need to urgently focus on improving the quality of the internship/workplace environment experienced by artisan apprentices rather than just on the intake number of artisan apprentices that the Youth Wage Subsidy has encouraged to date.
Highlights
At present, South Africa faces the twin challenges of rising youth unemployment rates and worsening scarce skills required to drive economic growth
The factors that comprise internship or workplace environment were under the direct control of internship host companies, and these companies can utilise this insight to improve their training programmes offered to artisan apprentices
The findings revealed the vital importance of relevant training and development opportunities afforded to young artisan apprentices during the internship period
Summary
South Africa faces the twin challenges of rising youth unemployment rates and worsening scarce skills required to drive economic growth. Youth unemployment currently sits at 70% (StatsSA, 2014). This situation is likened to a ‘ticking time bomb’ (Burnett, 2014). There is no quick fix for the current high youth unemployment levels (Yu, 2013). In this context, the Employment Incentive Bill was introduced on 01 January 2014 and is better known as the Youth Wage Subsidy. The Employment Incentive Bill was introduced on 01 January 2014 and is better known as the Youth Wage Subsidy The objective of this legislation was to encourage the employment of young people with limited work experience, by using tax incentives (Rankin & Roberts, 2011)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
