Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that his Presidential Employment Stimulus has achieved a milestone of 1 million participants, with more than 600 000 jobs created and small businesses given a boost.
He said the stimulus, launched two years ago as a response to Covid-19 devastating the economy, had contributed to job creation as the economy went on the mend.
“This achievement is the result of a collaborative effort across government and the wider society, including the private sector, community-based organisations and many others,” he said in his weekly newsletter.
He said the government would continue building on the success of the stimulus to expand its reach.
“It is still very much needed to complement recovery of the job market. It also supports that economic recovery in important ways. In a context where a lack of work experience is a major barrier to finding work, these programmes are providing high-quality work experiences,” he said.
He said the largest programme supported by the initiative benefited almost 600 000 young people, who were placed as school assistants in more than 22 000 schools in every “nook and cranny of the country”.
However labour expert and DA MP Michael Bagraim disputes Ramaphosa’s bold claims on job creation.
He said Ramaphosa was posturing and his information was contradicted by quarterly government statistics that showed 11 million people are actively looking for jobs.
“I don't know where he found that 600 000 figure. I suspect these are parttime, temporary jobs. He’s counted them all in, so every time you employ someone for a week he counts it.
“Unfortunately, it is a difficult thing to assess because if I give someone a job for a day to clean my garden, do you count that as a job? I think what the presidency has done is to count every single part-time, temporary job and that they have managed to source through government using taxpayers’ money. It’s not proper jobs. The whole thing is to duplicitous. It’s true but it’s not a real job,” he said.
But GOOD party MP Brett Herron welcomed the jobs announcement.
“Our economy must grow substantially to create well paid permanent jobs that will lift people out of unemployment and poverty. The stimulus is providing some relief but we have a long way to go to address chronic unemployment. We need a social security system, which includes basic income, so that no adult is left behind with zero income.”
Ramaphosa said the initiative also enabled the creative sector to create jobs for themselves and others.
He commended public employment programmes for having a direct positive impact in communities.
He said payments to stimulus programmes’ beneficiaries provided an economic boost to small businesses.
“Over 1 million people have benefited directly. Many more people, in the families and communities of participants, have felt the impact of the stimulus.”