Building Youth Capacities through Life and Soft Skills: Rigorous Longitudinal Evidence from Youth Employability Programs In South Africa

Background:
Advancing the common good requires investments in young people’s capacity to participate fully in social and economic life. For youth facing persistent unemployment, barriers extend beyond access to jobs to include limited psychosocial resources such as self-efficacy, confidence, and future orientation—capacities essential for meaningful participation in society. Employability programs are increasingly positioned as pathways to economic inclusion; however, their potential to build life and soft skills that support democratic participation and long-term wellbeing remains underexamined. Grounded in the theme of social work research at the service of democracy, this study investigates how key design features of youth employability programs shape psychosocial outcomes over time.

Methods:
This study uses longitudinal data from the Siyakha Youth Assets project in South Africa (2015–2019), which followed 1,809 young people (ages 18–25) who were not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Participants were enrolled in eight employability programs across the country. Data were collected at four time points over 36 months using interviewer-administered surveys. Mixed-effects linear regression models with maximum likelihood estimation were used to examine associations between program features and three psychosocial outcomes: self-esteem, self-efficacy, and future orientation. Repeated observations were nested within individuals using random intercepts. Key predictors included program emphasis on soft skills (e.g., communication, problem-solving), technical skills, work-opportunity matching, work experience, program duration, stipends, and accreditation, controlling for demographic characteristics and baseline socioeconomic status.

Results:
Program design features related to life and soft skills were significantly associated with improvements in psychosocial outcomes over time. Youth in programs with moderate emphasis on soft skills training, structured alignment between training and employment opportunities, and longer program duration (6–12 months) reported significantly higher self-esteem and self-efficacy compared to peers in programs with limited soft skills components, weaker job alignment, and shorter duration (p < .05). These findings suggest that life and soft skills are critical mechanisms for building confidence, agency, and adaptive capacity among marginalized youth.

In contrast, participation in programs with substantial work experience components was associated with lower self-efficacy, while structured job matching was associated with lower future orientation, indicating that exposure to constrained labor market realities may temper expectations about the future. Technical skills training, stipends, and program accreditation were not significantly associated with psychosocial outcomes.

Conclusions and Implications:
Findings highlight that youth employability programs contribute to more than economic outcomes—they shape the psychosocial foundations necessary for participation, inclusion, and agency. By strengthening life and soft skills, such programs can build capacities that underpin democratic engagement and social belonging. These results underscore the importance of aligning program design with broader social work goals of equity and the common good. From a research perspective, the study demonstrates the value of rigorous longitudinal methods in identifying which program components foster not only employment readiness but also the psychosocial capabilities that enable young people to navigate structural constraints. For practice and policy, integrating life and soft skills into employability interventions offers a pathway to more inclusive and participatory development outcomes for youth facing structural disadvantage.