'Average public works job lasts 46 days'

Johannesburg - The average job created by phase two of the expanded public works programme (EPWP) lasts only 46 days, the SA Institute of Race Relations said on Monday.

"The government may be on track to meet its target of creating a total of 3 million work opportunities by 2014, but it is important to take into account the average length of each of these opportunities in order to properly assess the impact the programme is having on unemployment and poverty," said Lucy Holborn of the institute's research department.

The department of public works said it had created 800 000 job opportunities through the programme since April 2009.

However, it had failed to meet its target of creating jobs which would each last 100 days, the institute said in a statement.

In its latest South Africa Survey, the institute found that the average length of employment for the first year of phase two of the EPWP was 50 days, dropping to 34 days in the first quarter of 2010/11 and averaging at 46 days over phase two.

The average wage on the programme was R64 a day, said Holborn.

Phase one of the EPWP was launched in April 2004 and phase two in 2009. The two phases have created a total of 2.4 million work opportunities.

The data, which came from a reply to a parliamentary question, showed that the majority of opportunities created were in infrastructure.

According to the department's website, the EPWP is a government programme aimed at providing poverty and income relief through temporary work for the unemployed to carry out socially useful activities.