DA’s jobs claim debunked by Africa Check

In February, the Democratic Alliance (DA) claimed that “98% of all net new jobs in the last quarter of 2022 were created in the DA-run Western Cape”.

The opposition party said 167 000 of the overall 169 000 new jobs in SA came from the Western Cape.

Africa Check, the non-profit fact checking organisation, has since put the DA’s claims into context, showing the the party’s “boast” in not accurate.

📈 167 000 of the overall 169 000 new jobs in SA in the last quarter of 2022 come from the DA-run Western Cape province.

Voting for the DA in 2024 is not about politics. It is about choosing the only credible option to save our country and build a better future. 🇿🇦#VoteDA pic.twitter.com/CHpHyyItoa

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 28, 2023

In February, 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”.

DA leader John Steenhuisen has repeated this claim a few times since then.

‘Misleading’ jobs claim

Africa Check, however, said this claim is “misleading and outdated”.

Desiree Manamela, chief director of labour statistics at Stats SA, told Africa Check that there is a lot of nuance to the labour stats that the DA had not revealed.

“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.

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She also explained that it is possible for more than one province to contribute more than 100% of the new jobs in a quarter. This means the DA’s claim it had created 98% of new jobs in South Africa is good but not as impressive as the party implied.

Also, rather than using the term ‘net new jobs’, Stats SA calculates the percentage change in employment within each province.

Using this, the Western Cape saw a 6.9% increase in the number of people employed in the province from October to December 2022. 

But Manamela says comparing quarters is not ideal either, because the numbers will be skewed by seasonal trends in employment.

“The December quarter is usually marked by an increase in jobs in the trade industry,” she said. These seasonal trends are also seen in some provinces more than others.

To get around this, a year-on-year comparison in employment stats is more reliable.

Northern Cape leads in creating jobs

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 had lost jobs.

This flies in the face of Cardo’s claim that employment gains “in ANC-run provinces are either far more modest or non-existent”.

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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.”

Latest data

With the DA repeating the claim recently it has also ignored the fact that there is updated data it should be using.

The latest figures, released in May, showed that the number of people employed in the country between January and March increased by 258 000. The figure for the Western Cape was 62 000. 

Though this is a 2.4% increase for the Western Cape, the province is behind Limpopo (5.4%) and the Eastern Cape (3.0%).

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