(A). Skills Development Act and Skills Development Levies Act
The Government's commitment to promote active labour market policies is well documented in the Skills Development Act, 1998 and the Skills Development Levy Act , 1999. These two pieces of legislation introduce new institutions, programmes and funding policies designed to increase investment in skills development.
There are two over-riding priorities that this legislation seeks to address.
The first is the ever-present reality of the global economy and the imperative to increase skills to improve productivity and the competitiveness of industry, business, commerce and services.
The second is to address the challenges of social development and the eradication of poverty.
The implementation of the skills development legislation has begun. In April 1999 the National Skills Authority was established. On 20 March 2000, 25 Sector Education and Training Authorities came into being. From 1 April 2000 a payroll levy was introduced to fund the new skills development implementation framework and to provide grants to encourage employers to invest in training and the development of their staff.
For more information on Skills Development Act and Skills Development Levy Act, log on to www.labour.gov.za/docs/legislation/skills/.