A jobs summit is urgently needed to discuss the latest shocking and depressing unemployment figures released by Stats SA
9 May 2016
The latest alarming and disheartening unemployment figures that show that there has been a massive rise in the unemployment rate in the country, demands immediate action from all social partners to avert a looming catastrophe. The latest data from Statistics South Africa shows that South Africa’s unemployment rate increased to 26.7% of the labour force in the first quarter of this year. This is a 2.2 percentage increase from the 24.5% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015. This means that over 355 000 jobs were lost in the first quarter of 2016 and adding to the expanded unemployment rate of 8, 9 million people.
The expanded unemployment rate which includes those who were available to work but did not look for work increased by 2.5 percentage, leaving the real unemployment rate in the country sitting at 36.3% according to Stats SA.
All the sectors of the economy have been hemorrhaging jobs with the biggest job losses observed in Trade, where (119,000) jobs were lost and Manufacturing that shed 100,000 jobs and Construction bleeding over 77,000 jobs. The only exception according to Statistics SA was observed in the Community & Social services and Agriculture which both saw a modest growth of 51,000 and 16,000 respectively.
While these statistics are shocking and depressing, they have confirmed what COSATU has been saying all along, that we have a crisis of unemployment and it needs our urgent attention. COSATU has been calling for a jobs summit to discuss the ongoing retrenchments for a long time without any enthusiasm from government and big business. This reluctance from these social partners is a sign that both government and big business are in denial about what is going on. This is worrying because the status quo is not only unacceptable but is also unsustainable.
The federation is preparing itself for its jobs campaign, where it will mobilize everyone in demanding that urgent steps be taken to deal with this unacceptable increase in unemployment.We shall be demanding the total overhaul of the macro-economic policies in line with our call for a radical second phase of our transition. We need our government to decisively intervene in strategic sectors of the economy, including through strategic nationalization and state ownership. Government should use a variety of macro-economic and other levers at its disposal to regulate and channel investment, production and consumption in order to drive industrialization and sustainable development.
The first step that needs to be taken is the reorientation of the National Treasury, which constitutes the biggest obstacle to the government’s economic programme. The Reserve Bank needs to be nationalized and given a new mandate. COSATU believes that in order to create a sufficient number of sustainable new jobs, the government needs to invest in skills development and training as part of addressing structural unemployment. The only way to address the structural problems in the economy is through industrialization, in particular promoting the manufacturing sector and the creation of decent jobs.
These latest unemployment figures also make urgent the need for the finalisation and implementation of the Unemployment Insurance Amendment Bill that will ensure that unemployment insurance benefits are extended to most unemployed people for over twelve months. This should cater for without alternative work, as well as seasonal, contract and informal sector workers.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 9 May 2016
