Impact of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) on employment creation and skills development in a South African Metropole municipality

Abstract

Local governments issue performance reports every year about the number of people that benefit from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). There is however, not enough information reported on tracing beneficiaries after exiting the EPWP. Most EPWP beneficiaries leave the programme after their contract has ended just to allow for the minimum cooling-off period, only to re-register to be employed on the same programme again. There is not enough empirical information on whether or not these participants acquire any relevant training from the EPWP that assists them in securing future sustainable employment. Consequently, there is no empirical evidence to state with certainty that the EPWP fulfils its mandate of alleviating poverty, improving employment and upskilling its participants. The main purpose of this study was to assess the effect that the EPWP has on job creation and upskilling of its beneficiaries in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality (CoCT) with the goal that they may be employable in the labour market with the skills they acquired in the programme. This study was carried out by collecting empirical data using both qualitative and quantitative methods where a sample size of 87 beneficiaries from all four sectors in the CoCT were requested to complete self-administered questionnaires and partake in cross-sectional interviews. The sectors surveyed were infrastructure, economic, environmental and social. The data was analysed and findings were summarised. The main research finding was that 44% of the youth were working in the programme although there were age outliers of as old as 66 years. To indicate the CoCT’s commitment to employing targeted groups in the programme, 56% of the participants were women. It was found that the working periods were generally shorter, with only 16% having worked up to 24 months. The majority of the participants indicated overall satisfaction with the programme and agreed that it brought about both income and poverty relief. It was concluded that the majority belief was that acquired training helped with future employability. It was however, found that training was strongly correlated to the project duration.