Media Release: The Western Cape has created 77 000 new jobs over the past year | Western Cape Government

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Media Release: The Western Cape has created 77 000 new jobs over the past year

31 July 2018

The Western Cape, which contributes less than 15% to the national economy, created 40.7% of all new jobs in the past year.

 

The Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the period April to June 2018 which was released today, indicates that 77 000 new jobs were created in the Western Cape over the past year-representing a 3.2% increase.

 

The Western Cape also recorded an expanded unemployment rate of 23.2%, almost 14 percentage points less than the national average of 37.2%.

 

Minister Winde said: “The Western Cape continues to be a major contributor to employment in the country, and was  responsible for creating 77 000 of the 188 000 new jobs in South Africa in the past year-more than any other province.”

 

Despite this excellent news, the province recorded a large drop of 50 000 jobs on a quarterly basis between the first quarter of the year, and the second.

 

More than half of these (27 000) were lost in the Agricultural sector which has been battling through one of the worst droughts on record.

 

The sector is also cyclical and seasonal harvest time job losses would have been recorded in this quarter.

 

Year on year, jobs in the province’s agriculture sector showed some growth- with 2 000 new jobs created over the period.

 

Minister Winde said “the drought has had a significant impact on the agricultural industry and the quarterly employment statistics in this sector reflect that. However, we are pleased that year on year, we have not seen any negative impact in this sector which is responsible for a large proportion of rural job creation. We have experienced good rains in some parts of the province and believe that this will reflect positively in the agricultural sector’s growth in coming quarters.”

 

The community and social services sector also recorded a large quarterly decline of 34 000 jobs. This could largely be attributed to NGOs and provincial and municipal government departments experiencing budgetary strain, and taking cost cutting measures to reduce their personnel expenditure.

 

Private households in the province, largely creators of domestic work, also recorded a loss of 4 000 jobs in the quarter, which also coincided with VAT increases, and several petrol price increases, and putting pressure on household finances.

 

Positive growth for the quarter was recorded in the construction industry which created 18 000 new jobs, and the transport industry which added 16 000 new jobs in the province.

 

In the City of Cape Town, jobs in the formal sector grew by 50 000 year on year.

 

Minister Winde said “Just today, a report was released indicating that Cape Town is the technological hub of Africa responsible for creating 40 to 50 000 jobs, and this increase in employment in the metro area is a reflection of the investor confidence we’ve seen in sectors like technology and the green economy. Large corporations like Amazon, Hisense and now also Panasonic have shown a willingness to grow their business here, and the designation of the Special Economic Zone in Atlantis will further help to boost employment figures.”

 

Media Enquiries: 

Bianca Capazorio

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Opportunities

Tel: 021 483 3550

Cell: 072 372 7044

Email: bianca.capazorio@westerncape.gov.za