Cape town: The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) has facilitated nearly 295,000 earning opportunities for youth during the third quarter of this financial year.

According to South African Government News Agency, Deputy Minister in the Presidency Nonceba Mhlauli released the PYEI 2025/26 third quarter results in Cape Town, noting that the results cover the period between October and December last year. Among the highlights, 294,530 earning opportunities were secured, over 11,000 work experience opportunities were created through partnerships with higher learning institutions and the private sector, and more than 6,700 enterprise opportunities were provided to support youth entrepreneurship through the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).

Deputy Minister Mhlauli stated that the revitalised National Youth Service has continued to expand, with 132,784 young people placed in paid service opportunities to date. She noted that these achievements demonstrate that the PYEI is growing in scale, length, diversity, and sustainability of opportunities.

A significant milestone for the quarter was the success of the Jobs Boost Fund, which is in its pilot phase this financial year. The fund aims to deliver high-quality jobs for previously excluded youth by incentivising skills providers to offer appropriate skills development and support job readiness programmes and interventions. Over 9,170 young people have enrolled in this programme, exceeding the target for the financial year, with 7,200 already placed into jobs.

Young people are encouraged to engage with opportunities presented on the zero-rated sayouth.mobi site, which lists earning and learning opportunities, access to work experience, and enterprise support. The platform is designed to ensure no young person is excluded due to cost, location, or lack of access to information.

Since its inception, the PYEI has reached more than 5 million young people, facilitating 2.36 million earning opportunities through SA Youth and an additional 402,515 opportunities through the labour department's Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA). The PYEI is part of a broader national effort to eliminate structural barriers to job creation and economic participation, aiming to build a South Africa where young people participate in the economy with dignity, agency, and hope.