Government's job creation efforts pay off

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Pretoria - Government has created more than 2.3 million jobs through various incentives in the past five years, says the Department of Trade and Industry (dti).

Presenting the dti’s 2015/16 Annual Report to the Portfolio Committee of Trade and Industry in Parliament on Tuesday, the department’s Director General Lionel October said most of the jobs were created in the community and social services sector.

This, October said, is due to a direct reflection of the work of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and Community Works Programme (CWP).

“Given the youth bulge in the economy, 3.2 million -- mainly young -- job seekers entered the labour market, thereby reducing impact on unemployment,” said October.

October said the automotive and manufacturing sectors continued to strengthen the economy on the back of government support measures, despite the negative global and domestic trading conditions.

The manufacturing sector continued to cushion the economy against a possible technical recession by growing at a positive rate of 0.6%.

“The dti has spent almost 100% of its allocated budget of R9.5 billion, comprising mainly incentives schemes, where disbursement to private companies accounted for R7 billion of the total allocated budget of the department,” said October.

Improved audit outcomes

October said the portfolio’s overall audit outcomes have improved due to the commitment of leadership and management.

The National Credit Regulator, National Credit Tribunal and South African Bureau of Standards, which fall under the department, achieved clean audits, as they did the previous year.  

The Companies Tribunal, National Gambling Board and National Lotteries Commission also achieved clean audits for the 2015/16 financial year.

“Minister Davies has embraced the concept of clean audits and endeavours to strive towards continuous improvement,” said October. – SAnews.gov.za