WERKSOEK- VOORWAARDELIKHEID IS NET SLEGTE BELEID

The Institute for Economic Justice argues that job-search conditionality for social grants in South Africa is bad policy because unemployment is structural, the costs of searching for work exceed the grant value, and such requirements violate constitutional rights and risk driving workers into exploitative, low-wage employment.

• South Africa's unemployment is structural, meaning the economy does not create enough jobs to match the labor supply, regardless of the efforts of job seekers. The 'expanded definition' unemployment rate is 42.6%, involving 12.38 million people, with 76.2% of active job seekers classified as 'long-term unemployed' (unemployed for over a year).
• Job-search conditionality is viewed as counterproductive because it imposes high costs on recipients that may exceed the value of the grant. The monthly cost of job searching for young people is estimated at R1,469, while the SRD grant is only R370.
• The document argues that conditionality can lead to labor exploitation and lower wages. By forcing recipients to accept any offered work to maintain their benefits, it undermines the bargaining power of labor and may push workers into low-quality, exploitative jobs.
• Conditionality is described as a violation of constitutional rights and a source of social stigma. Article 27(1) of the South African Constitution guarantees the right to social assistance; the IEJ argues that making this right conditional treats it as a privilege and reinforces stereotypes that the poor are 'lazy'.
• The IEJ critiques specific proposals from the World Bank, National Treasury, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and Rise Mzansi. These proposals suggest replacing the SRD grant with a job-seeker's grant or segmenting recipients by qualification level, which the IEJ claims lacks logical basis and ignores the reality of food poverty.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2024). WERKSOEK- VOORWAARDELIKHEID IS NET SLEGTE BELEID. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IEJ-UBIG-Factsheet-9-Afrikaans.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. WERKSOEK- VOORWAARDELIKHEID IS NET SLEGTE BELEID. 2024. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IEJ-UBIG-Factsheet-9-Afrikaans.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=WERKSOEK- VOORWAARDELIKHEID IS NET SLEGTE BELEID |date=9 October 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IEJ-UBIG-Factsheet-9-Afrikaans.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2024werksoek, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{WERKSOEK- VOORWAARDELIKHEID IS NET SLEGTE BELEID}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IEJ-UBIG-Factsheet-9-Afrikaans.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }