#QLFS - DA-led WC creates 62 000 jobs in first quarter, as national unemployment rate rises by 0.2%

16 May 2023

The DA in the Western Cape welcomes the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2023, which showed the Western Cape had the biggest year-on-year percentage change in employment with an increase of 15.7%. That equates to 360 000 new jobs created in the last year, with 62 000 created in the last quarter alone.

In particular, the DA-led Western Cape created 47 000 jobs in agriculture over the last year, compared to the net total created nationally of 43 000. A further 113 000 jobs in trade were created in the Western Cape over the same period.

The Western Cape again has the lowest expanded unemployment rate in the country, decreasing by 0.9 percentage points to 25.9% over the last quarter, a full 16.5 percentage points lower than the national average, and 13.7 percentage points lower than the next-best performing province, Gauteng.

While the fight against unemployment will continue unabated, these results show that the DA-led Western Cape is making steady progress. This progress will be sustained through the launch and implementation of the Western Cape Government’s Growth for Jobs strategy, which will delink the Western Cape’s economic growth from South Africa’s stagnation.

Our people deserve the dignity that comes from having a job and being able to support themselves and their loved ones. The statistics are clear, you are more likely to have a job in the Western Cape, the only province run by the DA, than anywhere else in the country.

Issued by Cayla Murray, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Finance, Economic Opportunities and Tourism, 16 May 2023