Expanded Public Works Programme

Defining principles

Promote labour standards and fundamental rights at work, provide adequate social safety nets for vulnerable workers, eliminate inequality and discrimination in the workplace, and enhance occupational health and safety awareness and compliance in the workplace (1).

Rationale

The program aims to provide poverty and income relief through temporary work.

Number of participants

803,000 (April 1 2022 - December 31 2022) (2). More than 8 million jobs total as of 2018 (3).

Criteria for participation

Open to all poor households. Targeted groups include poor head of household with less than a primary education, less than one full time income, and where subsistence farming is the source of income. Targets of 60% women, 20% youth, 2% disabled (5).

Person-days of employment

395,000 person-years of work including training; 2,942 person-years of training April 2022 through March 2023(4).

Pay and benefits

R165 average manual worker daily wage rate (April 1 2022 - December 31 2022) (6). 12 sick days accumulated per year, and 3 days paid family leave per year for those working 4 days or more per week (7).

Financing

R163.9 billion project budget; (3.5% of GDP) (8).

Implementation

Department of Public Works, Minister of Public Works. “At the provincial government level, Members of the Executive Council (MECs) for Public Works provide provincial leadership and direction on the Programme. Each province has a dedicated EPWP Unit established within the Provincial DPW that are instrumental in mobilizing other provincial departments as well as municipalities within the province to perform in accordance with the objectives of the EPWP,” (9).

Types of work

Infrastructure (labor-intensive construction, provincial roads, water affairs, mineral resources projects); Non-State Sector (support for non-profits and the community work program (CWP)); Environmental and Cultural (sustainable land management, waste management, park beautification, sustainable energy); Social Sector (early childhood development, home community-based care, school nutrition, community crime prevention, after school care, literacy campaigns).

Notable features

803,000 work opportunities, 37% youth; 71% women; 1% people with disabilities; R7.5 billion wages paid out to employees on EPWP projects in 2022 (10).

Challenges

This Public Service Employment program alone is not enough to eliminate structural unemployment; the ILO recommended “longer-term measures such as educational reforms and economic development policies,” (11)

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