Pretoria – Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel says a lot still needs to be done to absorb job seekers into the labour force.
Speaking on SAfm’s The Forum at 8 show on Tuesday morning, hosted by Xolani Gwala, Patel said while thousands of jobs had been created in the past three years after the launch of the New Growth Path, the government continued to work hard to address the economy’s structural challenges.
Patel’s statement comes at the back of the latest job figures by Stats SA, which revealed that the number of unemployed people had increased by 100 000 to 4.6-million between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.
“We are making quite significant progress as in one year, we have created nearly 200 000 new jobs.
“The bulk of these jobs are in the public sector and now we need to do the difficult part -- which is trying to improve job creation in the private sector, particularly in the manufacturing and mining sector,” he said.
When he delivered his budget vote last week, Patel announced various job-creation initiatives that were taking place in all provinces and would be centred on infrastructure development.
During the radio debate, Patel said ever since the launch of the New Growth Path in 2010, the economy had grown and created new jobs. About 44 000 were created in the first quarter of 2013, he added.
Patel also said government currently invested in ports, roads, rail, energy and water in order to lay a solid foundation for long-term growth, while continuing with immediate measures such as the Expanded Public Works Programme.
He said 150 000 people were currently employed in various projects around the country. This included 15 000 people working at the Medupi Power Plant in Limpopo and 12 700 at the Kusile Coal-Fired Power Station in Mpumalanga, amongst others.
He said more jobs were expected to be created.
Asked about the decline of jobs in the trade and retail sectors of the economy, Patel said that the focus should be shifted towards the productive sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, mining and tourism, in order to steer the economy from a consumption-heavy focus to the productive and sustainable labour-creating sectors. - SAnews.gov.za
