1. Introduction

It is no secret that South African youth are facing massive challenges in terms of their education, employment and career growth. At the third quarter of 2019, South African unemployment rate has increased to 29% as compared with 26.5% in the first quarter of 2017. Youth unemployment has been inordinately high for many years in South Africa and is one of the country's major socioeconomic challenges [1]. Cross-country comparisons regularly affirm that South Africa's unemployment rates are among the highest in the world. In 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 63% of the youth labour force (3.2 million individuals). By international comparison, the ratio of youth to adult unemployment is fairly similar for other countries that are economically comparable to South Africa. However, the overall unemployment rate is far higher than in other emerging markets [2]. Of the 10.2 million individuals aged between 15 and 24 years, one-third are not in employment, education, or training (and are often referred to as "NEETs") ibid.

The results of this study helped to understand (1) the present vocational and didactic practices at TVET colleges, (2) the degree of TVET college readiness for the fourth industrial revolution and (3) the state of financial support for the reskilling

STEM for Sustainable Skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Snapshot at Some TVET…

Technological advancement is a major driver of the economic growth and has raised living standards enormously (though unevenly) across the globe. Digital technologies radically transform the structure of organisations and employment models. However, there is a growing fear of "technological unemployment" as technology become dominant in the economy. Such fears were experienced repeat-

Technological change has reshaped the workplace continually over the past two

A 2011 study by McKinsey's Paris Office found that the Internet had destroyed 500,000 jobs in France in the previous 15 years but at the same time had created 1.2 million new jobs. This was a net addition of 700,000 or 2.4 jobs created for every job destroyed. Digital technology integration is having an amplifying effect on the institutional change. As new technologies come online and existing jobs are displaced, society will be under greater pressure to adapt and learn new skills. Jobs and employment models are continually changing with technology, owing to consumer preferences. These developments have been reshaping through the industrial revolution. New jobs, requiring new skills, are being created in manufacturing, mining, as well as the service sector industries. There is nothing new about continual change in the types of jobs people do and how they are done. Throughout history, governments, industries and society have been failing to make important choices about how to reskill human resources for the transition workforces into the future. One important difference about today's change is that we have many lessons to learn from. Many lessons have been learned about labour force transitions from the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century. In the knowledge economy, employability is directly related to relevant education and training [4]. Knowledge economy is based on knowledge and information [5], which forms the intellectual capital of organisations [6] and is a driver for growth and employment across industries [7]. Knowledge-rich industries, including professional, scientific and technical services, show rapid economic growth. Higher-skilled jobs are more complementary with technology and innovation, increasing productivity and earnings [8]. Patent growth is one of the indicators of technology innovation and growth in the knowledge economy [5, 9, 10]. These trends and projections highlight the importance of technical and vocational education for those who are yet to enter the

The advances of technology, digital connectivity and globalisation and the rise of new economic structures are creating new forms of jobs and employment models over the coming 20 years. We are witnessing a unique combination of forces that

centuries since the industrial revolution. The speed with which automation by digital technologies is developing today and the scale at which they could disrupt the world of work are largely without precedent. In the long term, technology has increased the productivity of workers and driven very substantial increases in living

and skilling of youth and adults for the fourth industrial revolution.

3.1 Awareness of the forces for new jobs and skills for the future

edly through history in response to new technologies.

3. Literature review

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89294

standards [3].

labour market [11].

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