South Africa's special employment programme of R600 million∗

Partly based on papers delivered at the Conference of the Economic Society, Durban, 19 September 1985 (with E Krüger), and the NITRR Seminar on Labour Intensive Construction Practices, Pretoria, 31 October 1985.

Résumè

In 1985 an amount of R6OO million was allocated for special employment projects. The most important ones were labour intensive projects by the public and private sectors, projects to support the small business sector, and the training of unemployed persons.

Various conditions were set for the programmes. Regarding the labour‐intensive projects for instance, a relatively small allowance was paid to the unemployed person in order to accommodate as many persons as possible, and to ensure the workers were not diverted from other employment opportunities. Furthermore, at least 50 per cent of the total funds allocated had to be for the wages of the unemployed persons. In terms of acceptability among both training institutions and the persons involved, the scheme for the training of unemployed persons was particularly successful.

Only a relatively small part of South Africa's unemployment problem can be addressed with a programme of this nature. Measures to address the structural unemployment problem remain first priority.

Notes

National Manpower Commission. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission or the Department of Manpower.

Partly based on papers delivered at the Conference of the Economic Society, Durban, 19 September 1985 (with E Krüger), and the NITRR Seminar on Labour Intensive Construction Practices, Pretoria, 31 October 1985.