President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza on Monday held their first monthly meeting with the leaders of business, labour and communities to tackle the country’s employment crisis, the Presidency said in a statement.

The jobs summit presidential working committee, set up to accelerate the implementation of measures adopted at last year’s Presidential Jobs Summit to create employment and unblock regulatory and other hurdles that inhibit employment, among others, is expected to hold social partners to account, the statement said.

“In setting up these monthly meetings, we were motivated by the scale and the urgency of the crisis we are facing, and by the realisation that if we don’t move more quickly and with greater effect, our economy will lose more jobs than we create,” Ramaphosa said. 

“We reached important and far-reaching agreements at the Jobs Summit last year, but their effectiveness depends entirely on implementation. 

"We know that despite the economic headwinds that we face – both globally and locally – we have the means as these four social partners to turn our economy around and create jobs,” he said. 

The committee is made up of the president, the deputy president and three senior leaders from government, labour and the business community and is expected to meet at the beginning of every month to measure the progress of the jobs summit undertakings.

"The committee agreed that each meeting should address a particular sector of the economy where intervention is needed to prevent job losses and stimulate far greater job creation," the statement said. 

Some sectors that the committee has prioritised include construction, clothing, textiles, footwear and leather, and metals and machinery.

Over the next few months, the committee will also address key constraints to greater investment and growth, such as the cost of doing business, security of electricity supply and policy uncertainty, the statement said.