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Since its inception in 2009, the initiative had approved 199 deals worth R3.3bn to businesses in distress to help them stay afloat and conserve jobs, labour department deputy director general of public employment services Sam Morotoba told MPs.
The sector that benefited most in monetary terms was mining. Spending of R396.8m on seven such deals was approved for the troubled industry.
In the 2010/11 financial year joint initiatives between the IDC and UIF led to 17 233 jobs being retained or created. The following year the figure rose to 25 909 jobs. Last year it reached 41 395, Morotoba said.
The UIF agreed in 2009 to place a R2bn bond with the IDC to provide funding to businesses that would create or save jobs. It was part of government's commitment to curbing unemployment, which stands at 25.6%.
The labour department presentation showed that 2320 jobs were saved in mining, compared to 1240 in agriculture, 6312 in the wood industry, and 4677 in the textile sector.
Morotoba said the UIF was also playing a mayor role in fighting joblessness through its three-year funding deal with Productivity South Africa's turnaround solutions project.
It allocated R39m in the past financial year to help companies in distress. The figure had increased to R55m for the current year. It would be used to help 130 companies with a potential to retain 102 000 jobs.
He referred to the intervention as "a well-kept secret out there" and said the department believed more could still be done to target and help small-, medium-, and micro-enterprises.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) also expressed concern about retaining jobs in this sector.
It largely fell outside its remit because companies retrenching small numbers of employees did not have to inform it of their plans.
The CCMA told MPs it saved 26 054 jobs through its arbitration in section 189 (A) dismissal processes. This part of the Labour Relations Act regulates dismissals of more than a set percentage of employees for operational considerations.
Morotoba said the CCMA had notably played a key role in preserving jobs in mining.
"In Marikana, because we fund the CCMA, we asked them to intervene and save jobs that may be lost. They made a big difference, the mining companies wanted to let everybody go."
But he warned that South Africa's unemployment problem was being worsened by labour migration from neighbouring countries and called for a regional initiative to address the problem.
"We need labour regulation policies that are harmonised. If that problem is not addressed it may just implode and affect the whole SADC (Southern African Development Community) region," he said.
