Photo by: Duane Daws
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has welcomed the passing of the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) Act, which it believes will enable significant strides in the creation of more jobs for the youth.
President Jacob Zuma signed the Bill into law on January 11 under the Taxation Laws Amendment Act.
The ETI was implemented in January 2014 and, in its first full year of implementation, supported around 645 973 youth between the ages of 15 and 30.
Last year, Busa made submissions to the National Economic Development and Labour Council, or Nedlac, and Parliament based on qualitative and quantitative independent research, which showed that the ETI assisted hundreds of thousands of youth in gaining first-time access to work experience, which significantly increases their future employment prospects.
The research demonstrated that ETI-supported employees are paid higher wages on average and have improved prospects for skills development and secure, long-term employment.
In conjunction with the CEO Initiative, and with the support of these incentives, business will seek to make a significant contribution to growing youth employment through the Youth Employment Service scheme.
“As business, and together with our social partners, we are committed to finding lasting solutions that will aim to achieve youth employment and inclusive growth, both critical ingredients that, if supported, will address our country’s triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality,” Busa said.