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aim of the programme is to “promote employment creation
by specifically addressing the constraints to job creation
in South Africa”, explain senior researcher Carlene van der
Westhuizen and researcher Toughedah Jacobs.
While the DPRU is the implementing agent, all decision-
making is carried out by a tripartite reference group,
made up of high-level representatives from government,
organised business, and organised labour.
Now in its third phase, the EPP has taken some twists and
turns since it was first launched in 2005. Leaping straight into
the fray, Phase I focused on the design of solutions to a set
of hurdles to employment – skills shortages, the efficiency of
POVERTY AND ECONOMICS
labour and non-labour market regulations, and support for
labour market institutions. Phase II was concerned with the
implementation of those solutions. In turn, Phase III, started
in 2010, has been exploring the quality of the country’s
employment-generating strategies, among other things.
Every phase had one goal in mind – creating jobs. Thanks
to its support for the Training Layoff Scheme, for example,
the EPP ‘saved’ the jobs of 11 000 people who were
enrolled in training courses, rather than retrenched when
their employers were experiencing financial distress;
through the EPP, the Department of Labour commissioned
a regulatory impact assessment of key pieces of labour
legislation that, through its recommendations, saved up
to 900 000 jobs; and the EPP funded the initial pilots of
the community works programme that has created at least
80 000 jobs, with the government hoping to eventually
reach one million participants through an expansion of
this initiative.
“Our objective, whenever a proposal comes in or there
is a request for funding, is for the work to be geared
towards policy intervention or a policy solution aimed at
job creation,” says van der Westhuizen.
“The EPP funded the initial pilots of
the community works programme that
has created at least 80 000 jobs, with
the government hoping to eventually
reach one million participants through
an expansion of this initiative.”
The poverty and inequality initiative is one of UCT's key institution-wide initiatives which seek to address critical social
challenges. Professor Francis Wilson's main responsibility is to organise a national conference, to be called the Carnegie
III Conference on Poverty and Inequality – Phase I, in support of the National Planning Commission’s work in this regard.
In preparation for this, he is identifying all research across faculties at UCT that are relevant to this theme, and developing
a research agenda for the next few years.