This article contends that because of austerity measures and the pressure to limit its wage bill, the public sector is a major user of precarious workers. The jobs these workers fill are low-paying, with no benefits. They represent an attempt by the state to deal with structural unemployment and poverty in a situation where the economy is not absorbing the working population. There has been research on the various forms of precarious work in the public sector; the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is an outcome of this. Based on in-depth interviews, internet sources, documents and newspapers, this article makes an original contribution to the study of the role of precarious workers at all levels of government and at universities and state-owned companies. It examines how precarious workers, who are not usually heard in the public discourse, respond to their working conditions in the public sector. The study contributes to a rede