Support scaffolding: a conceptual framework for how public employment programmes promote livelihoods in South Africa

South African policy discourse typically frames public employment programmes (PEPs) as a springboard from unemployment to sustainable jobs. Drawing on practitioner experience of the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES), which created over 2.5 million work and livelihood opportunities (2020–25), we challenge this view. In a constrained labour market, we recast PEPs as ‘support scaffolding’ that strengthens livelihood portfolios which are the activities and resources people rely on to sustain a living. We identify three mechanisms: predictable income that enables investment and risk-taking; participation in work that builds capabilities and social capital; and complementary support that expands livelihood opportunities. These effects vary with household circumstances, programme design, local context, and structural constraints. We argue policy should enable movement between forms of support rather than expect rapid exits and should measure success through livelihood improvements. This shift has implications for social protection and active labour market policy in South Africa and beyond amid labour market transformations.