PEC 2026: Session 3: The Jobs Fund – Lessons in Job Creation at Scale

This session explores what drives and constrains job creation in South Africa through the experience of the Jobs Fund. Drawing on more than a decade of evidence (2012–2024), the discussion examines the impact of the Jobs Fund’s two largest funding windows – Enterprise Development and Support for Work Seekers – and their contribution to employment creation and labour market outcomes. In conversation: Najwah Edries, Head of the Jobs Fund at National Treasury, and Professor Haroon Bhorat, Director of the DPRU at the University of Cape Town. The session concludes with a visual synthesis by Carlos Amato, Graphic Recorder, Writer, Cartoonist and Editor. Presented at the 2026 Public Economics Conference.