Parliament’s portfolio committee on public service and administration has called for better alignment between graduate recruitment and long-term employment planning in the public service, particularly in light of South Africa’s ageing public service workforce.
The committee made this call on Wednesday in parliament when it received a briefing from the Department of Public Service and Administration on the employment of youth in the public service.
Among the topics that were discussed was whether the department maintains a database of unemployed youth graduates to link them with job opportunities in the public service.
During the meeting, the committee was told by the department that in 2025, the youth account for about 27% of public servants, totalling over 347 000 individuals who fall within the 31 to 35-year-old age group.
According to information presented by the department, the highest youth representation was in administrative, financial, supply chain, and technical roles, with women constituting the majority of young employees in the public sector.
Systemic challenges highlighted
The department’s delegation told committee chairperson Jan de Villiers and the committee members that the department has several systemic challenges, including budget constraints that impact the creation of posts and the low absorption of interns following their internships.
The department said, among the measures it will use to address the aforementioned challenges, it will enforce youth hiring targets in departments’ annual performance plans and scale up partnerships.
The committee also heard that the department is developing a policy proposal to introduce a voluntary early retirement scheme, which would enable older public servants to exit without incurring financial penalties.
The department said this will help open up more employment opportunities for young people.
Noting the progress, committee members stressed that short-term placements without certification or skills recognition do not constitute meaningful empowerment.
“The committee has called for formalised exit pathways and proper mentorship models for interns and graduates,” said De Villiers.
Nepotism in graduate placements
Committee members also questioned the fairness and transparency of recruitment practices across departments, calling for more transparent recruitment processes and improved communication about opportunities.
While appreciating efforts to remove unjustified barriers, such as experience requirements, some committee members were concerned about nepotism in placements, which they felt undermined the value of graduate internships.
Committee members also raised concerns that interns are often assigned to menial tasks unrelated to their training and are not provided with sufficient supervision or exit interviews to assess the programme’s impact.
The official unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 34 is 46.1%, according to the most recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey published by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) for the first quarter of 2025 (January–March 2025).
According to Stats SA, 62.4% of young people between 15 and 24 years were unemployed. The youth unemployment rate for those between 25 and 34 years is 40.4%.
