New statistics published by South Africa’s government shows just how dire the country’s employment position has become.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s employment agency, the Public Employment Service (PES), has placed as few as 2.3% of those registered under its purview in the past financial year.<\/p>\n
In a reply to a DA parliamentary question<\/a>, the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, stated that 618,570 unemployed South Africans registered under the PES, with only 14,634 being successfully placed in full time employment.<\/p>\n “This means more than 600,000 unemployed South Africans placed their faith in the Department of Labour to provide access to any form of a job opportunity. Sadly, this has just become another costly but ineffective government intervention that is failing South Africans on a daily basis,” said Ian Ollis, DA shadow minister of labour.<\/p>\n “What is even more alarming is that the Department of Labour\u2019s target for placement for this year was a measly 20,000,” he said.<\/p>\n “In a country in which 8.4 million South Africans remain trapped in unemployment, this programme has horribly missed the mark, and its impact is negligible.”<\/p>\n The DA noted that the primary function of the PES is \u201cto register unemployed and under-employed work-seekers, to equip them with employment counselling to access employment, to seek and register opportunities for the absorption of work-seekers, to match them with opportunities and to refer them to employers and other institutions for potential placement and to access unemployment benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n It said that of the 128 labour centres around the country which offer Public Employment Services, many are run down, dilapidated and inaccessible.<\/p>\n The DA’s findings therefore showed that each centre has a duty to place only 156 candidates annually, and only placed 114 people over the past year.<\/p>\n “Every South African must be afforded the opportunity to find a job, which brings with it freedom, dignity, independence, and an opportunity to better one\u2019s life. Any obstacle to such opportunity must be removed with immediate effect,”<\/p>\n A way to combat South Africa\u2019s youth unemployment crisis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Govt interference hits SA economy, employment<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on employment in South Africa<\/h3>\n