In the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, both provinces are amongst three provinces in the country which recorded employment losses, the Free State with 4 000, North West with 4 000, and Mpumalanga recorded the highest with 45 000 jobs lost. It is unclear whether the Northern Cape is part of the provinces which recorded employment losses or gains, as it is not included on the list. 

Stats SA’s Felicia Sithole says the finance sector recorded the most employment gain in the country by 184 000, followed by community and social services with 175 000, while the agriculture sector recorded the lowest increase by 27 000. “Both the formal and informal sectors recorded increases in employment of 209 000 and 107 000 respectively.”

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Coming to employment losses which were recorded in the country, private households lead with 85 000, followed by trade with 28 000, mining with 24 000, construction with 11 000 and manufacturing with 2 000. 

Sithole explains that the youth remain vulnerable in the labour market, with the first quarter of 2023 results showing that the total number of unemployed youth (15-34 years) increased by 241 000 to 4,9 million while there was an increase of 28 000 in the number of employed youth to 5,6 million during the same period. This resulted in an increase in the youth unemployment rate by 1,1 percentage points to 46,5% in the first quarter.

The Free State premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, stated in his State of the Province Address that at least 50 082 job opportunities have been created through the Expanded Public Works Programme. Of this number, the Community Works Programme contributed 26 871 job opportunities. “The composition of the participants of these job opportunities is aligned to our stated priorities of designated groups as 36 839 beneficiaries were women while 17 197 were youth and 407 were persons with disabilities. At the time the unemployment rate declined from 38,1% in the third quarter of 2021 to 33,8% in the third quarter of 2022.

ALSO READ: Deal gives hope to Northern Cape's unemployed youth

The premier of the Northern Cape, Zamani Saul, announced a multimillion partnership with the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services SETA. The R210 million deal will see young people in the province receive training, awarded bursaries and jobs being created. Over 2 000 young people in the province are expected to be beneficiaries of this project. 

Saul says he is happy that the province, which is one of the most ignored, will highly benefit from this deal. The deal would also go a long way in curbing the high unemployment rate due to a lack of skills, among other things.

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