Magister Commercii - MCom / Since the advent of democracy, one of the most serious economic problems facing the South African economy is the persistently high unemployment. Although employment has been increasing in general since the economic transition, the extent of such increase is not rapid enough to absorb the expanding labour force entrants, thereby causing both the level and rate of unemployment to increase. This is indicated by the fact that, despite the increase of employment number from 9.5 million in 1995 to 15.2 million in 2014, the number of unemployed increased from 2.0 million to 5.2 million during the same period, thereby causing the unemployment rate to rise from 17.6% to 25.4%. In fact, the labour market objective of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) to reduce the unemployment rate to 15% by the end of 2014 is not achieved. The government has been trying to solve the unemployment problem by means of various policies, ranging from the “big” policies like the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP), Growth, Employment and Redistribution Policy (GEAR), the aforementioned ASGISA, and the recently launched National Development Plan (NDP), to the more specific labour market policies such as the Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP), promotion of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to the implementation of the Employment Tax Incentives Bill (also known as the Youth Wage Subsidy) since 1 January 2014. This study first provides a theoretical framework on various models of unemployment, before the main causes of unemployment in South Africa are discussed. A critical evaluation of the pros and cons of various policy options to alleviate unemployment would be looked at. Some of the policy options have already been implemented in South Africa for years and hence the possible success of these policies would be investigated in detail. Few policies have only been recently implemented (e.g. the Employment Tax Incentives Bill), while other possible policy options have not yet been implemented in South Africa (e.g. job-seeking transport subsidy) but have been adopted in other countries. Hence, the feasibility of these options for South Africa would be investigated, by examining the outcome of these policies in the other countries.

Prof. C.S. van der Waal

Many forums have been recently organised in South Africa to discuss the level of State intervention in the minerals sector, the expropriation of private mining companies, and the transfer of mineral wealth to the people. The objective of this research was to explore the possible impact that the nationalisation and the introduction of a resource rent tax will have on the capability of platinum mining companies to create sustainable employment while remaining profitable in South Africa.The research was qualitative and exploratory in nature. The sampling frame included major platinum group metals companies, which constitute an industry concentration of more than 50 per cent. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 senior managers and executives from the platinum mining industry.The results have shown that nationalisation of platinum mines, where the government has total ownership or majority control of the company, will not create sustainable employment in South Africa. In addition, nationalisation of mines will isolate South Africa from external capital because private investors have been reluctant to put their money where mining companies were nationalised, especially in Africa. Although the introduction of a resource rent tax may be viable in a short term, it is believed that the competitiveness of mining companies operating in South Africa will be compromised. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Magister Commercii - MCom / South Africa is faced with a triple threat of poor economic growth, poverty and unemployment. Concurrently, the production of waste is increasing predominantly among urban areas. If catered for, the informal recycling sector has the potential to create a notable amount of opportunities for improving livelihoods and generating jobs. Street Waste Pickers (SWPs) are identified as individuals who collect recyclable waste material from households or industrial firms with the aim of selling them to recycling firms. This study aims to identify the barriers and challenges for job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling that SWPs face in the urban regions of Cape Town. In the absence of national database on the informal recycling sector, this study utilises primary data collection methods in the form of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The findings in this study indicate that the informal recycling economy is predominantly male-dominated. This is particularly due to the labour-intensive nature of the activities in this sector. Furthermore, the informal recycling economy possesses little to no barriers of entry. This is substantiated by the slight difference found in the comparison of earnings by race, age and educational attainment. These results reveal that initiatives to absorb these individuals could potentially curb the large amount of unskilled unemployed citizens of South Africa and simultaneously help decrease the level of unemployment in the country.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Public Policy, Johannesburg, 2017. / The role of SMMEs in job creation in developed countries has been studied extensively. These studies do not include micro firms in their research. There is a scarcity of literature when it comes to the role SMMEs play in job creation in developing countries. This study adds to the literature gap by incorporating micro firms in its research. The study explored the ability of SMMEs in addressing unemployment in South Africa by looking at their ability to create jobs. The study is a qualitative analysis of existing literature combined with interviews of 16 SMME owners. The role SMMEs play in job creation is not only measured by the number of people employed (labour intensiveness) but also by the potential of SMMEs to grow and thus create jobs in the future. The interview respondents were largely comprised of microenterprises. The paper also found business owners to have low and negative sentiments towards the government. Cash flow and funding remained the major challenges facing the sector in 2016/17. The findings from the interviews are aligned with the empirical findings of the study. / XL2019

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MAdmin / Department of Public and Development Administration / This study focused on critical analysis of job creation strategies in the Makhado Local Municipality (MLM). Even though there are policies and strategies adopted by Local Economic Development (LED) in order to speed up the process of job creation, there are still many unemployed people with no potential job prospects in the area. There are quite a number of factors working against job creation which range from geographic and demographic dispositions, availability of industries within the area, and limited infrastructure that can help to fast track job creation. The researcher used descriptive research design for this study. The researcher followed a mixed methods approach in which quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used. The reason for using a mixed methods approach was to integrate both qualitative and quantitative research methods to enable them to complement each other, thereby adding value to the findings. The researcher used non-probability sampling and its sub-type purposive sampling to select the respondents for this study. Purposive sampling method provides a wide range of non-probability sampling techniques for the researcher to draw on. Data collection instruments which were used were interview questions and questionnaires. Statistical analysis and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. The researcher followed the research ethics before conducting study. The following were the major findings of the study: • The study findings revealed that municipality fails to inform members of the public with regard to job creation strategies in any process of development. • The research study findings revealed that the municipalities should create positions instead of internships without getting employment after completion. • The study findings revealed that public participation encourages community members to be actively involved in the municipality projects and helps to create good relationship between communities and the municipality to improve basic service delivery. The following are the recommendations of the study: • The research study revealed that good working relationship between municipal officials and community members should be encouraged as it is vital in enhancing the provision of service in the communities. • The study recommended that the municipalities should create positions which are permanent. • The researcher recommends that openness between community structures and the municipality should be encouraged in order to bring development in the municipality. / NRF

Importance is being placed on local economic development (LED) by the South African government, given the paradigm shift away from viewing local government as simply delivery agents to the concept of developmental local government. LED is essentially an ongoing process, based on local initiatives and driven by local stakeholders (especially the local government) to arouse economic activity and to create jobs in a specific locality. In an attempt to evaluate the impact of job creation and poverty alleviation, this study investigated the role played by LED as a tool for job creation: a case of Mafube local municipality. Participants included the community members, business people, Mafube local municipality members, especially members of the LED unit. The study found that, undoubtedly, LED plays an important role since it contributes towards job creation and poverty alleviation. The study recommends that for local governments to be effective in the process of LED, the local government must put in pragmatic and relevant strategies and involve all potential stakeholders in all the stages of the LED process. This should be complemented by efforts of the provincial government to strengthen the local government in the process of LED.

Importance is being placed on local economic development (LED) by the South African government, given the paradigm shift away from viewing local government as simply delivery agents to the concept of developmental local government. LED is essentially an ongoing process, based on local initiatives and driven by local stakeholders (especially the local government) to arouse economic activity and to create jobs in a specific locality. In an attempt to evaluate the impact of job creation and poverty alleviation, this study investigated the role played by LED as a tool for job creation: a case of Mafube local municipality. Participants included the community members, business people, Mafube local municipality members, especially members of the LED unit. The study found that, undoubtedly, LED plays an important role since it contributes towards job creation and poverty alleviation. The study recommends that for local governments to be effective in the process of LED, the local government must put in pragmatic and relevant strategies and involve all potential stakeholders in all the stages of the LED process. This should be complemented by efforts of the provincial government to strengthen the local government in the process of LED.