Government jobs initiatives bearing fruit

Government employment initiatives are beginning to bear fruit with more people now employed in part-time work since December last year.

This is according to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) released on Tuesday.

According to the statistics, part-time employment increased by some 42 000 since December 2022, growing from 1.11 million to 1.152 million in March 2023.

Speaking to SAnews.gov.za, Stats SA’s Director for Quarterly Employment Statistics, Matlapane Masupye, said government programmes are helping to abate unemployment even if on a part-time basis.

“These programmes are helpful. From the increase, we have… 35 000 jobs coming from the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative [PYEI] and 6 000 from the EPWP [Expanded Public Works Programme],” he said.

Masupye said that these programmes may acquire an impact even further down the line when the youth participating in the programmes search for full-time employment opportunities.

“The objective [of the programmes] is to equip youth with the necessary skills, which will manufacture it easier for them to enter the labour market. Currently, different companies will request different experience so through these initiatives, you are able to use the experience gained to procure permanent jobs,” he said.

Despite the gains in part-time employment, the QES revealed that full-time employment slowed over the past three months, particularly in the business service and trade industries.

Overall, some 63 000 jobs were lost in full-time employment in the period under review.

Masupye explained why the decrease was expected by the statistics institute.

“Trade [sector employment] dropped by 36 000 and business services 32 000. It’s not surprising from the trade sector because we are coming from the December quarter, which is active. Normally, trading companies will employ more staff to work either full-time or fraction time.

“The business services [decline]… is coming from the sub-sector called labour broking, which is supplying other industries [with labour], especially trade, during the festive season,” he said. – SAnews.gov.z

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