Western Cape continues on job growth trajectory | Western Cape Government

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Western Cape continues on job growth trajectory

12 February 2019

 

The Western Cape has recorded the lowest expanded unemployment rate and the highest labour absorption rate in the country-indicating that the province’s efforts to create an environment conducive to economic growth and job creation are paying off.

 

StatsSA released their Quarterly Labour Force Survey data for the fourth quarter of 2018 today.

 

According to the data, the Western Cape created 29 000 new jobs over the past year and 26 000 between October and December 2018.This represents a year on year increase in employment of 1.2%.

 

The unemployment rate also declined in the province, and now stands below 20% at 19.3%.

 

The province has the lowest expanded unemployment rate in the country, which at 23.1%, is nearly 14 percentage points lower than the national rate of 37%.

 

The absorption rate, which refers to the proportion of the working age population that is employed is 54.8% in the Western Cape, compared to 43.3% nationally.

 

“If we look at the complete picture, this data shows that there are fewer unemployed people in the province, and more opportunities for employment in the Western Cape,” Minister of Economic Opportunities, Beverley Schäfer said.

 

Key sectors contributing to the employment growth were Agriculture, which saw an increase of 10.3% year on year, transport, which grew by 8.2% year on year and the finance sector, which recorded year on year gains of 2.1%.

 

The rural unemployment rate has also seen a decline to 15.7%, a drop of 3.4% quarter on quarter.

 

The Western Cape now has the lowest rural unemployment rate in the country.

 

“This is remarkable given that we experienced one of the worst droughts on record in 2018 and continue to still feel the impact of the drought in some areas of the province. Our efforts to create jobs in the rural areas, through interventions like Project Khulisa are clearly showing results,” Schäfer said.

 

Between the third quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2018, 508 000 jobs were created in the Western Cape- indicating a growth of 24.8% in job numbers in the province.

 

“The Western Cape has now created over half a million jobs since the third quarter of 2009 and 2.52 million people in this province can now say they have a job. Our priority in this province is to grow the economy and create jobs, and we will continue to build the enabling environment to ensure that this is possible,” she said.

 

“As the Western Cape Government, we are proud of projects like the Air Access initiative, our commodity approach to supporting emerging farmers and ease of doing business interventions like the Red Tape Reduction Unit, which all contribute to growth, attractiveness as an investment destination, and ultimately, job creation,” she said.

 

 

 

Media Enquiries: 

Bianca Capazorio

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Opportunities

(Responsible for the Departments of Agriculture and Economic Development and Tourism)

Tel: 021 483 3550

Cell: 072 372 7044

Email: bianca.capazorio@westerncape.gov.za