Non-profit fact-checking organisation, Africa Check, has debunked the DA’s claims that ‘98% of all net new jobs in the last quarter of 2022 were created in the DA-run Western Cape’, claiming that the party’s claims were both misleading and inaccurate.
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In February, the opposition party said 167 000 of the overall 169 000 new jobs in SA came from the Western Cape.
At the time, the DA’s shadow minister for employment and labour, Michael Cardo, released a media statement claiming the ‘DA-run Western Cape can proudly boast a quarter-on-quarter increase of 167 000 jobs (a rise of 6.9 percent), while gains in ANC-run provinces are either far more modest or non-existent’.
This claim has subsequently been reiterated by DA leader John Steenhuisen on numerous occasions.
However, according to Africa Check, this statement is both ‘misleading and outdated’.
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Chief director of labour statistics at Stats SA, Desiree Manamela, told Africa Check that there are a lot of facets to the labour stats that the DA has failed to reveal.
‘It must be taken into consideration that, even though there were five provinces, including the Western Cape, that created employment, there were four provinces that lost employment in the same period,’ Manamela said.
She added that it was impossible for more than one province to contribute more than 100% of the new jobs in a quarter, meaning the DA’s claim that it had created 98% of new jobs in South Africa is good but not as impressive as the party implied.
She explained that rather than using the term ‘net new jobs’, Stats SA calculates the percentage change in employment within each province.
When this factor is taken into account, the Western Cape saw a 6.9% increase in the number of people employed in the province from October to December 2022.
However, Manamela said that comparing quarters was not ideal either because the numbers would be skewed by seasonal trends in employment.
‘The December quarter is usually marked by an increase in jobs in the trade industry,’ she said. Some provinces experience these seasonal trends more than others.
This can be avoided by using employment statistics that are compared year over year.
When looking at these figures, the Northern Cape (27%) actually saw the largest increase in jobs, while the Western Cape (14.7%) was second. The year-on-year figures also show that no province has lost jobs.
Africa Check also said the DA’s pie chart is also misleading.
‘[It] masks the fact that while the eight ANC-run provinces together had a net gain of around 2 000 jobs, provinces such as the North West and Eastern Cape had employment gains 10 times higher.’
According to the most recent statistics, which were made public in May, there were 258 000 more people employed in the nation between January and March. The figure for the Western Cape was 62 000.
Despite the fact that the Western Cape saw a 2.4% increase, the province lagged behind Limpopo (5.4%) and the Eastern Cape (3.0%).
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