Question NW2598 to the Minister of Employment and Labour

Reply:

The Department of Employment and Labour (DEL), through its offices and entities, is actively involved in a number of interventions aimed at assisting work seekers to access employment opportunities, creating public employment, saving employment, providing income support, employment safety and employment peace and dialogue as all these complements employment creation.

The Department of Employment and Labour assists work seekers particularly young people to access work opportunities through its 126 labour centres and employment centres, 450 visiting points that we use mobile units to access them. As from the 1st April 2023 to end of July 2023, Public Employment Services registered 334, 088 new work seekers on its ESSA database and 77,357 work opportunities. A total of 32,444 work seekers were placed against registered opportunities.

A further 142,648 work seekers were provided with life skills and employment counselling interventions to help them transition to the labour market.

A total of 995 People with Disabilities were retained across 12 Supported Employment Enterprises that we have across the country through the transfers that we made and sale of goods that they manufacture during the 1st Quarter of the year, to provide special employment to People with Disabilities

A total of 1056 People with Disabilities were also retained across 09 Designated National Organizations and Workshops for People with Disabilities that we subsidize

Working closely with the Presidency in its employment drive, we have concluded a partnership agreement with the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) towards the implementation of the National Pathway Management Network to make more opportunities available to unemployed young people.

A total of 108,061, earning opportunities have been secured for youth. The partners that we also work closely with, the Youth Employment Service, a private sector initiative, placed 10 695 youth in workplace experience opportunities, and further 47 000 youth gained insight into different fields of work through the revitalised youth service. A total of 139 young interns were retained within the Department to support other work seekers as part of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative,

The Compensation Fund also actively contributes to the workforce by providing financial assistance to those in need through bursaries. In the current fiscal year alone, . The Compensation Fund has successfully paid bursaries for 1 865 students who cover diverse range of this entity’s beneficiaries, and People with disabilities, an initiative aimed at integrating them into employment.

A total of 1 325 new employment opportunities were created through the COIDA investment arm.

The Presidential Comprehensive Youth Employment interventions have also contributed to job creation, specifically 135 jobs.

The Compensation Fund's provision of bursaries has made a tangible impact on the workforce by assisting those in need, creating job opportunities, and empowering marginalised youth.

The CCMA also assisted with the prevention of 6008 job losses, against a total of 16 239 workers likely to be retrenched and a total of 9 754 that were ultimately retrenched.

2023/24	YTD	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR
Employee Likely To Be Retrenched	16239	4433	3491	3854	4461
Job Saved	6008	1825	1347	964	1872
Total Retrenchments	9754	2347	2061	2823	2523
%	37%	41%	39%	25%	42%

Productivity South Africa’s Competitiveness Improvement Services (CIS) supported 420 enterprises within 20 districts contributing to 3500 jobs. Trained a total of 667 Entrepreneurs, managers and workers, and capacitated 247 Productivity Champions. Demographics of Entrepreneurs, Workers and Managers trained indicates that of the 667 people trained, 201 are youth, 289 are women and 487 are Black Entrepreneurs.

The Business Turnaround and Recovery, Productivity SA Programme has intervened in 30 new companies from April 2023 to date and saved 2076 jobs of which 1088 (52%) are youth.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) through its Labour Activation Programmes has placed 8 523 beneficiaries into employment opportunities. 5 723 of them were youth and people belonging to vulnerable groups.

The Department of Employment and Labour has convened a number of Intergovernmental Collaboration Sessions with other government departments in an attempt to mobilise and to effectively utilize the limited available resources to place more unemployed people into employment and to assist others to start their own enterprises.