Public employment programmes foster more than just jobs

South Africa’s public employment programmes are facing increasing scrutiny. And rightly so. In a constrained fiscal environment, policymakers and funders are asking difficult questions about impact and sustainability.

The success of public employment programmes is measured almost exclusively by a single indicator: how many participants secure formal employment after leaving the programme.

For four years, the Social Employment Fund (SEF) has created opportunities for more than 3,300 participants through civil society organisations embedded in communities across the country. According to data compiled from 19 Strategic Implementing Partners (SIP), those participants transitioned from SEF to three dominant pathways: 55.8% moved into formal employment, 34.5% started their own micro-enterprises, and 9.6% pursued further studies or training. Working through civil society organisations means that the SEF’s impact is far greater than only the number of individuals placed into formal work, but this impact often goes unrecognised.

The underlying motivation for measuring the number of jobs created is based on the assumption that individuals move neatly from unemployment to temporary public employment to permanent formal work. But this assumption reflects a labour market that many South Africans do not experience.

A multisource livelihood

The reality of many people’s labour market experience is the piecing together of livelihoods from multiple activities: informal trade, self-employment, short-term work, social grants, further study and entrepreneurship. The temporary employment provided through SEF is a key enabler of this multisource livelihood.

Using linear measurements of formal jobs to determine whether programmes like SEF are successful risks prematurely cutting funding to a critical enabler of employability.

Practitioners within the SEF report that participants use programme opportunities in diverse ways.

Some transition into formal employment. Others establish micro-enterprises, strengthen existing local businesses, pursue further education, diversify household income streams or acquire new digital and technical skills. Many pursue several pathways simultaneously.

To align the reality of South Africa’s economy with the reality of the people participating in that economy will require measuring entrepreneurship, investing in further education or acquiring new skills as measures of a successful public employment programme.

The risk of focusing too narrowly on transitions into formal employment alone is that we fail to see the broader public value these programmes create, which could result in under-investing in what we know works to support economic participation, because it looks different to what we thought it would.

Part of getting people to participate in the economy through formal roles is the acquisition of skills and aptitudes necessary for formal work.

Confidence, dignity, agency

SIPs consistently observe how participation builds confidence, enhances dignity and fosters a sense of agency and hope among participants. Individuals gain experience, expand their social networks and connect with opportunities. These outcomes are often the very foundations upon which future economic participation is built.

These outcomes accumulate into a collective impact at the community and societal level. The individual outcomes strengthen social cohesion, provide responses to community needs and stimulate local economies.

Programmes such as the SEF also invest in community-based organisations that form part of South Africa’s social infrastructure. Through implementation, these organisations develop systems, capabilities, partnerships and experience that enhance their ability to respond to local challenges long after programme cycles end. Stronger civil society organisations translate into stronger communities.

None of this is to argue that employment outcomes are unimportant. They should remain a key objective and an essential part of evaluating public employment programmes. But in a labour market characterised by structural unemployment and limited job creation, employment outcomes alone cannot tell us whether public employment programmes are succeeding; they must be complemented by the measurement of a broader collection of outcomes.

Policy-makers and investors recognise multiple forms of economic participation. Adopting a broader livelihood pathways approach demonstrates that and helps government capture the broader range of impacts – capabilities, resilience, social value and community benefits – generated through public employment programmes like the SEF.

Diverse solutions

South Africa’s public employment programmes were never intended to solve unemployment on their own. They’re designed to create opportunities, strengthen livelihoods and generate value in communities where few alternatives exist, with the longer-term goal of building a society with a diverse range of solutions to unemployment.

As government considers the future of public employment, the question should be: “How did this programme expand people’s opportunities to build sustainable livelihoods and contribute to their communities?” This tells a more realistic story of change than how many people are in jobs.

These reflections are drawn from discussions held during a recent convening of partners at the SEF’s annual in-person workshop, where implementing organisations from across the country reflected on participant pathways, programme outcomes and what success looks like in contexts of deep economic exclusion. DM