Govt will have to 'work at it'

Cape Town - The government will have to "work hard" to achieve its target of creating 500 000 formal economy jobs by December, Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge said on Tuesday.

"If you look at 500 000 jobs by December - it is possible, but we will have to work hard," he told Parliament's portfolio committee on public works.

"We are in a serious recession and jobs are being shed (in the formal sector)."

Doidge said there was an "ongoing intervention" by the government to create jobs.

But he said at the moment, "the need is greater than what we can provide opportunities for".

According to a report on the government's expanded public works programme (EPWP) presented to the committee on Tuesday the impact of the global economic crisis, combined with electricity rationing and rising interest rates, had reduced the rate of employment growth.

Around one-quarter of the labour force was unemployed, while 40% of the population lived below the poverty line.

The formal economy needed to generate an average of 500 000 new jobs a year and 4.5 million 100-day work opportunities to halve unemployment by the end of 2014.

According to the document, just 83 900 work opportunities were created between April and June. This figure was however "very conservative".

Some R45bn had been budgeted for EPWP infrastructure projects during the first five years of the undertaking.

Public bodies from all spheres of government were required to "optimise the creation of labour intensive work opportunities" for the unemployed through the delivery of public and community services to ensure the December target was reached.

Doidge said earlier this year that phase one of the EPWP had created 1.4-million jobs.

The second phase, launched on April 4, would provide fiscal incentives to support infrastructure projects funded by provinces and municipalities to create additional work opportunities.

The infrastructure sector of the programme was expected to contribute more jobs - in excess of 2.3-million, followed by the environment and culture sector at 1.1-million and the social and the non-government sectors together yielding more than 1.3-million jobs.

- Sapa