By Dale Hes
Mbombela - More than one million people are employed in Mpumalanga, the provincial government has announced.
According to Department of Finance MEC Madala Masuku, this sets Mpumalanga above all provinces in the country when it comes to job creation statistics.
"During the second quarter of 2013, the province has recorded an employment level of over one million... for the very first time.
"The mentioned figure represents 27.4% of the net job creation figure of South Africa as well as an annual employment growth of 11.3%, which was by far the highest of the nine provinces,” said Masuku.
He was speaking at the tabling of the 2013 budget adjustment in Mbombela on Tuesday.
He said the main contributing industries were community services, mining, construction and finance.
“Mpumalanga’s unemployment rate of 26.6% remains relatively high, but the good news is that it declined by 2.8 percentage points on a quarterly basis and 4.4 points on an annual basis,” said Masuku.
The provincial poverty rate declined from 43.7% in 2009 to 36.9% in 2012, while the number of people living in poverty declined by 180 000.
Masuku announced that the provincial budget framework had been adjusted by R526.15 million in 2013, increasing the total budget for all departments from R33.7 billion to R34.2 billion.
He said some of the increments went to the Department of Education, which received R206 million while the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison received an extra R262.8 million.
Masuku said that areas that exerted pressure on the provincial budget included infrastructure, accruals, scholar transport and security services costs.
“This financial year, departments are under serious pressure, as this is the final year of the fourth administration of the African National Congress. Departments have to wrap-up all remaining accruals by the end of the 2013/14 financial year,” Masuku said.
Masuku pointed out that the adjusted budget would allow the provincial government to review allocation efficiencies.
“It is an opportunity to look back on what the Mpumalanga government set to achieve in the short to medium term period,” Masuku explained. – SAnews.gov.za
