The skills revolution: are we making progress?: proceedings of a workshop on addressing skills shortages in the South African economy

By setting up the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) in March 2006, the government was recognising that the ‘skills revolution’ that the then Minister of Labour Tito Mboweni called for when he launched a comprehensive skills development strategy in 1997 had failed to materialise. The strategy was based on the principle of life long learning, embedded in a National Skills Framework, administered by 25 (since reduced to 23) Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), and funded by a one per cent payroll levy.