Cape Town – The number of jobless people has been reduced by hundreds of thousands in the Mother City.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis on Tuesday said the City added 263 000 new jobs over the last year.
At least 56 000 new jobs were added in the last quarter alone, more than all other metros combined.
This is according to the latest StatsSA Quarterly Labour Force Survey for April – June 2023.
The metro’s unemployment rate fell by 7% year-on-year, down a further 1.7% since the last quarter based on the expanded unemployment definition, which offers the most complete estimate.
“Cape Town has now had five straight quarters of positive jobs growth, with the lowest unemployment rate of the metros,” said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
“This is such encouraging progress, and we take great heart from the fact that a quarter of a million more Capetonians have work today than just a year ago.
“This is evidence of how the Cape Town economy is booming, and is now the heart of national economic growth.”
Mayor Hill-Lewis added: “When we speak about being a City of Hope for all, this is what we mean: getting more people out of poverty and into work.
“And for five straight quarters, this is exactly what is happening in Cape Town.”
Mayor Hill-Lewis said Cape Town’s economy was growing faster and adding more jobs, primarily because “our government” was investing in infrastructure, focusing on beating load-shedding and working to be the easiest place to do business in Africa.
This attracts new investment, and investment brings new jobs.
“More and more Capetonians are eager to be part of the workforce and, importantly, have been able to find a place in it,” said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
“To enable further job-creating economic growth, we are forging ahead with plans to end load-shedding over time alongside a record R43bn infrastructure investment over three years.”
Importantly, Cape Town’s labour absorption rate (percentage of employed working-age population) has eclipsed the pre-Covid rate, indicating that the city’s labour market has well and truly recovered and is now back to positive growth.
Alderman James Vos, the Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, said the City’s investment promotion and skills development programme has spurred major gains across multiple industries.
“Our projects have facilitated billions of rands in investments and led to the creation of thousands of jobs,” said Vos.
“Under the City’s Building Hope Budget, R41 million has been allocated for direct economic incentives to attract more investments and job opportunities to Cape Town.
“We have also built a strong training support system for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and employees so that they can gain the skills needed in emerging and high-growth industries such as the green economy, call centres, tourism, and clothing and textile.”
The latest Stats SA report shows that the national unemployment rate dropped 0.3% to 32.6% in the second quarter of the year.
More than 154 000 were added over the same period.
