07-08-2017
Wesgro welcomes Statistics South Africa's release of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) results for the second quarter of 2017.
The survey found that the Western Cape was one of only two provinces that recorded year-on-year unemployment rate declines in 2017's second quarter.
The province had 137 000 more people in employment compared to last year's (2016) second quarter, while its metro had 63 000 more in employment.
Nationally, however, employment declined by 113 000 to approximately 16.1 million. This decline was driven by six of ten industries, particularly construction and agriculture.
“By growing the regional economy through increased tourism, exports and investment, Cape Town and the Western Cape are managing to increase employment in a difficult economic climate. As the agency responsible for tourism, trade and investment promotion, Wesgro will continue to work to inspire confidence in the Cape economy, so that we continue to position our regional economy for economic growth and job creation,” said Wesgro CEO Tim Harris.
“These results are encouraging and show that our work to proactively position Cape Town as the ideal destination to live, work, play and invest in is paying off. We will continue getting on with the work of facilitating trade and investment opportunities with our partners such as Wesgro to bring even more jobs and make a greater contribution to alleviating poverty and reducing the unemployment rate even further,” said City of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille.
“Across the country, the Western Cape has created the most jobs over the past year. We also have the lowest narrow unemployment rate, and remain the province with the lowest broad unemployment rate. I was particularly encouraged by that fact that employment in our non-metro regions have increased by 9.2% over the past year. We achieved this growth despite being in the middle of one of the worst droughts our region has experienced. In the Western Cape, we are committed to making it easier to do business and have put in a place a focused economic strategy, Project Khulisa. This is why we continue to make steady progress in creating opportunities for jobs and growth," concluded Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde.