The presidency says more than 400,000 job opportunities have already been supported through President Cyril Ramaphosa's ambitious R100m employment stimulus plan.
The employment stimulus formed part of Ramaphosa's economic recovery plan, which aims is to create 800,000 part-time job opportunities in the current financial year. In addition to building on public employment programmes such as roads construction and municipal cleaning, new innovations have been added such as school teaching assistants, early childhood education workers and other employment opportunities for the youth.
SA’s unemployment crisis, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, is a headache for Ramaphosa’s cash-strapped government, which is trying to balance stimulating economic activity even as its financial position deteriorates.
According to Stats SA, the country’s official unemployment rate rose to 30.8% in the third quarter, reaching its highest level since the survey began.
About R13bn has been allocated to implement the presidential employment stimulus in 2020. The remaining R87bn would be allocated over the next three years.
The first progress report on the implementation of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which was announced by Ramaphosa as part of the country's growth and recovery plan in October, was released on Tuesday.
The presidency said several employment stimulus programmes were in the recruitment or beneficiary identification phase, while the remaining programmes were all on track to meet their targets.
Programmes that have commenced to date include the employment of 300,000 education and general school assistants at schools across the country by the department of basic education. This provided crucial support for schools as well as valuable experience for unemployed young people, the presidency said.
According to the progress report, 112,496 opportunities were in the recruitment phase and 178,752 in the planning.
The National Arts Council and the National Film and Video Foundation have submitted calls for proposals to support the creative sector and protect jobs in cultural institutions, while the trade, industry and competition department has expanded the global business services incentive to enable job creation for young people in the business process outsourcing sector.
The department of public works and infrastructure expanded its public employment programmes in water and energy efficiency, facilities management, waste management and the Welisizwe Rural Bridges programme, while the environment, forestry and fisheries department has expanded its public employment programmes in natural resource management, environmental protection and infrastructure.
“The speed and scale at which the presidential employment stimulus has been implemented demonstrates government’s commitment to act with urgency to support SA’s economic recovery,” the presidency said.
It said 11 national departments and all nine provinces were responsible for implementation of programmes supported through the employment stimulus.
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