Articles for April 2023
SRD grants: how they can be used to help young people into jobs
The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the unemployment crisis in South Africa. In the second quarter of 2021, unemployment rates were the highest ever officially recorded. Many people who lost their only source of stable income fell into poverty as a result.
Social grants provide income that helps people to survive the short term economic hardship of unemployment. In the long term, new opportunities must be created to get people back into work. However, National Treasury’s emphasis on fiscal restraint has led to debates about which of these policies to prioritise. This has been particularly evident in the debate around the extension of a grant introduced during the pandemic, known as the Social Relief of Distress grant. Much of the discussion on the merits of the grant treats it as a competitor to employment-creation schemes in the budgetary allocation. However, the evidence compiled in our review of the job search assistance literature suggests that with careful design, the relief grant can help to support the policy priority of getting young people into work.