On Tuesday, Statistics South Africa released its latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), which indicated that the Eastern Cape had increased jobs by 1.6 percent through the creation of 23,000 jobs during the second quarter of 2023.
According to Oscar Mabuyane, Eastern Cape Premier, despite the fact that the increase is still marginal at 1.6 percent, he is proud of the achievement. The largest decrease in unemployment rates in 2023 was recorded at 2,1% in the first quarter.
The number of employed persons increased in several provinces between quarter one of 2023 and quarter two of 2023, the largest employment increases were recorded in Limpopo with 80,000, Western Cape with 54,000, KwaZulu-Natal with 48,000 and Eastern Cape 23,000.
Mabuyane said: "While this is good news, we remain concerned that unemployment is still very high in our province. We will continue to advocate for national government to resolve some of the complex challenges impacting our economic growth including the challenge of energy provision,"
"The province has been on a steady trajectory in relation to employment creation, we however acknowledge that more still needs to be done to put up a strong fight against unemployment and poverty," Mabuyane added.
In addition, Mabuyane has called on all government institutions to accelerate the implementation of approved strategic agriculture and catalytic infrastructure projects, which have the potential to create more jobs in the province.
During this same period a year ago, the province recorded the largest decrease in the expanded unemployment rate, which went down by 8,5 percent, according to the QLFS report.
Mabuyane also emphasised the urgent need for the provincial economy to perform better.
"in order to take forward the strides already being made to deal with unemployment, poverty, and underdevelopment," he said.
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