Western Cape leads with the biggest decrease in unemployment year-on-year

20 February 2024

According to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), released by Statistics South Africa today, the Western Cape is now just 0.4% away from unemployment falling below 20% in the province, with unemployment sitting at 20.3% in quarter four of 2023.

The publication also shows that unemployment in the Western Cape is down, on the official definition, by 2.2 percentage points year-on-year – which is the biggest decrease in South Africa. This is promising news for the people of the Western Cape.

“In my State of the Province Address, I set out how the Western Cape Government has decisively acted to enable job creation, provide quality education, extend healthcare to those most in need, and boost safety for our citizens, and I am elated that our decisive action is making a difference in the lives of our residents,” said Premier Winde.

Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, said, “Each and every day, we work hard at getting more people into job opportunities in the Western Cape and the statistics released today show us that the action we are taking is working.”

The QLFS shows that, in the Western Cape, jobs are up, and unemployment is down year-on-year, and the Western Cape continues to have:

The lowest unemployment rate in SA, at 20.3%;

The lowest expanded unemployment rate in SA, at 25.6%;

The highest labour absorption rate in SA at 55.0%; and

The highest Labour Force Participation Rate in SA, at 69.0%.

Additional key data are:

Employment is up by 23 000 jobs or by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter;

Employment is up by 161 000 jobs or by 6.2%, year-on-year;

On the expanded definition, the unemployment rate remained stable between Q3 2023 and Q4 2023, although on the official definition, unemployment increased by 0.1 percentage points quarter-on-quarter; and

On the expanded definition, the unemployment rate is down by 1.2 percentage points, year-on-year.

Ahead of the 2024/25 National Budget, to be delivered by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, tomorrow, 21 February 2024, Premier Winde and Provincial Minister Wenger called for clear and unambiguous fiscal signals that the most vulnerable in society – starting with the poor and jobless – would be prioritised.

Premier Winde continued, "Minister Godongwana must provide policy certainty in his budget, especially considering the fiscal crisis the country has been dragged into by national government. He should also announce how the Port of Cape Town will be fixed, along with the rail network and the energy crisis. My call to national government is simple: give us management of these critical economic enablers so that we can continue growing our economy and creating even more jobs. The evidence is clear, the enabling environment that we are creating here in the Western Cape is making a difference – more jobs. In addition, our growth is inclusive, with this province showing great strides in reducing inequality, as evidenced in this province having the lowest Gini-coefficient (inequality) in South Africa. While we are proud of these successes, we recognise that we have a long way to go still and are doing everything we reduce unemployment further."

Minister Wenger said that, “There is a lot riding on this 2024/25 Budget. Clearly, the country and every South African are facing very difficult fiscal times. We’ve made no secret of the devastating impact that budget cuts are having where service delivery happens – through the provincial delivery of education, healthcare and social development services to our communities. These critical basic services that the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable rely upon. We’re in a formal dispute with national government on the impact that the unaffordable public sector wage deal is having on these services and would hope the Minister commits to paying the R1.1 billion shortfall” said Minister Wenger.

“We hope Minister Godongwana will make the tough calls needed to create a stable fiscal environment for the private sector to invest in, and grow much-needed jobs,” concluded Minister Wenger.

Issued by Regan Thaw, Media Liaison Officer, Office of the Premier, 20 February 2024