Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson. | Doctor Ngcobo/Independent Newspapers
Durban — Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has hailed the construction sector for contributing to the employment rate in the second and third quarter of the year.
The Minister was reacting to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey which was released on Tuesday by the Statistics SA which showed that the construction sector contributed to job increases in the second and third quarters. According to the statistics, the construction sector added 176 000 jobs to the economy which thereby contributed to the decreasing unemployment rate by 1.4% in the third quarter.
“The Minister is pleased to see a rebounding construction sector that saw the largest job increases out of all sectors between Q2 and Q3, according to the QLFS released. The construction sector added 176 000 jobs, and the country’s unemployment rate decreased by 1.4%.
Minister Macpherson believes this indicates that there are many green shoots within the construction industry, with additional reforms under way to increase investment and jobs,” read the statement.
Macpherson said while the unemployment figures remain stubbornly high, he is encouraged by the job growth seen in the construction sector which has shown that there are many green shoots within the industry. He added that as his department implements continued reforms to turn South Africa into a construction site, he looks forward to the industry creating many more jobs which will improve the lives of the people.
“After many years where the construction industry has seen subdued investment, it is also very encouraging to see that the industry is starting to turn around as additional projects get under way. This is also a sign of confidence in proceeding with fixed investment projects.
We are truly starting to build a better South Africa through building confidence in our construction industry,” concludes the Minister.
Among the many interventions the Minister is implementing to attract additional infrastructure investment includes Restructuring Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) to become a single port of entry for all major infrastructure projects in South Africa, reforming regulations around Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to make it easier for the private sector to invest in construction projects, expanding the role of the Infrastructure Fund (IF) to play a bigger role in attracting additional private sector funding and blended financing to construction projects.
As well as Introducing the first-of-its-kind project preparation financing which will see more construction projects being executed faster.
All provinces recorded job increases in the third quarter of the year except Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal which bled 66 000 and 2 000 respectively. The sectors that performed well were community and social services and construction. The informal sector also surpassed the formal sector in job creation which economists say is not good for tax revenue collection because the informal sector does not contribute to the company tax.
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