2023 Public Economics Conference: “Employment and the economics of job creation: Evaluating government employment programmes”
Media are invited to attend a two-day virtual Public Economics Conference from 6 to 7 September 2023. The theme is “Employment and the economics of job creation: evaluating government employment programmes.”
The conference will focus on the many public finance challenges South Africa faces: difficult spending choices, transformation of the electricity/renewable energy sector, and the need to support growth and employment creation. The 2023 Public Economics Conference, puts these challenges under the spotlight, drawing on the insights of recent expert studies and GTAC’s own research into selected spending review studies, public expenditure programmes and Jobs Fund experience. During the Conference we will showcase government’s initiatives to boost job creation and address unemployment in a labour surplus economy.
Respected leaders on the subject matter such as Michael Sachs, Vimal Ranchod, Josh Budlenlender, Kate Philip and Wandile Sihlobo form part of the exciting line – up, with the Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana expected to open the conference.
This year, a combined Winter School and Savings@Work conference, aims to unlock this valuable, yet often inaccessible evidence, and shed light on why some programmes work and others fail. The objective of the conference is to build public economics capacity by offering post-graduate students and young economists the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills on a range of public finance topics as well as network with economists working in the National Treasury and its agencies, including renowned academics and specialists in the field.
Day 1 begins with an overview of our fiscal policy challenges, and the spending choices required to narrow the gap between the government’s policy agenda and the available resources. We also examine the investment requirements of the energy transition and the implications for the national electricity grid of the shift from coal to renewable energy resources. The opening day concludes with a review of income statistics drawn from SARS data: what the trends tell us about income distribution, employment, and growth over the past decade.
Day 2 is dedicated to presentations and responses to selected spending reviews, big data analytics and Jobs Fund’s projects undertaken over the years on programmes centred around employment and job creation that inform choices in respect of employment policy and programme design.
Read more about the programme for each day National Treasury
Media are invited as follows:
Date: 6 to 7 September 2023
Time: 08:30 – 15:30 (Registration opens at 08:30)
Venue: Airmeet virtual platform
Journalists who wish to attend should rsvp to media@treasury.gov.za
