The employer-side companion to our YES explainer: the target, the host model, the budget, the ETI question, the records that verification needs, and the order to decide them in before a 2027 cohort starts.
Our [YES explainer](https://mogapi.africa/news/yes-youth-initiative-south-africa) sets out what the Youth Employment Service is and how its B-BBEE recognition works. This guide is the next step for an employer who has decided to look at it seriously: the decisions to make, in order, before a 2027 cohort starts. Most of the difficulty in a YES programme is not in the rules. It is in the sequence, because a target set late, a host chosen in a hurry, or a record kept loosely cannot be repaired at verification. It is general information, not B-BBEE, tax or legal advice. > **Key facts (as at 19 October 2026)** > - A YES placement is a **12-month** paid work experience for an unemployed Black South African aged **18 to 34** (YES). > - A sponsor that meets its YES target and absorbs **2.5%** of its YES youth can move up **one B-BBEE level**; double the target with **5%** absorption can move it up **two** (YES). > - Large entities must first meet sub-minimums on the priority elements of the scorecard; exempted micro enterprises have none (YES). > - Where the employer on the youth's payroll qualifies, the Employment Tax Incentive can reduce PAYE by up to **R1,500 a month** in the first 12 qualifying months for an employee aged 18 to 29 earning **less than R7,500** a month (SARS; Atlan's [ETI threshold guide](https://atlan.co.za/news/eti-employment-tax-incentive-2026-threshold-guide)). > - YES youth are employees, so the national minimum wage and the ordinary employer obligations (UIF, PAYE where applicable, a written contract) apply to whoever employs them (Basic Conditions of Employment Act; National Minimum Wage Act). This guide covers: - Decision 1: the target, and the recognition you are planning for - Decision 2: in-house placements, hosts, or both - Decision 3: the budget, and where ETI fits - Decision 4: who employs the youth, and who keeps the records - A worked example - A planning calendar for a 2027 cohort ## Decision 1: The Target, and the Recognition You Are Planning For YES recognition is added on top of the B-BBEE level an entity already holds, and it depends on two numbers: the **target** (the number of YES youth the entity must place, set by its size) and the **absorption rate** (the share of those youth who are taken into longer-term employment at the end of the year). The explainer's table gives the three outcomes. | Planning for | What it takes | What it means for the plan | |---|---|---| | One level up | Meet the target; absorb 2.5% of the YES youth | The smallest cohort that earns recognition. Absorption of one youth in 40 | | One level up, plus 3 bonus points | 1.5 times the target; absorb 5% | A larger cohort, and absorption planned from the start | | Two levels up | Double the target; absorb 5% | Twice the placements, twice the hosts or desks, and absorption of one youth in 20 | Two checks come before any of this. First, **eligibility**: a generic entity needs the priority-element sub-minimums the explainer describes, and if the scorecard does not meet them the YES placements earn no level, however well they run. Second, **the target itself**, which the entity confirms with YES against its own size. Decide the recognition you are planning for first, because everything below scales from the number of youth it needs. > The level is earned at verification, from placements that ran as planned and records that prove it. Nothing in the plan should assume it earlier than that. ## Decision 2: In-House Placements, Hosts, or Both A sponsor can place its YES youth in its own operations, with approved **hosts** such as SMMEs and non-profit organisations, or in a mix. The choice shapes the whole year. | | In your own operations | With hosts | |---|---|---| | **What the youth gets** | A year inside your business, with your managers | A year inside a small business or organisation that gains capacity it could not otherwise afford | | **What you need** | Desks, supervisors, work that teaches something, and the HR load of a cohort | Hosts chosen for fit and reliability, a host agreement, and someone who supports both host and youth through the year | | **Absorption** | Depends on your own vacancies at year end | Can happen at the host, at the sponsor, or elsewhere in the host's network | | **Suits** | Entities with the supervisory capacity and genuine roles | Entities whose own structure cannot absorb a cohort, or whose transformation goals point to a community or sector | Hosting is where many programmes succeed or fail, because a host that was not chosen carefully stops answering in month four. The hosting side, from the small business's point of view, is covered by Bighearts Africa, which develops and supports the SMMEs that host young people; its guide to [what a youth hosting programme is](https://bighearts.africa/news/youth-hosting-programme-explained-smmes) is the right reading for a host you are considering. ## Decision 3: The Budget, and Where ETI Fits The sponsor funds the placements. The budget ha...