SACTWU welcomes jobs growth in clothing, textile, footwear & leather sectors
16 December 2015
The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing &Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) welcomes the increase in employment in the clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) manufacturing industry, as recorded by the most recent Quarterly Employment Survey (QES).
The QES was released yesterday by Stats SA, for the 3rd quarter ending September 2015.
The QES records that by September 2015, employment in the CTFL manufacturing sector stood at a little over 90 100 workers.
Over the last 12 months - between September 2014 and September 2015 – employment in the CTFL industry has increased by 1.8%. This was driven by growth in the clothing sector (676 new jobs), textile sector (1 197 new jobs) and the leather sector (268 new jobs).
The September 2015 CTFL employment numbers are the highest of the past 30 months. For instance in March 2014 employment in the industry was just above 87 300 workers.
Although the recent increases in employment remain small, they stand in contrast to the enormous levels of job losses which decimated the industry for over two decades.
They also compare favorably to the declining fortunes of the manufacturing sector as a whole, in which employment decreased by 0.3% over the same recent 12 month period. This reinforces SACTWU’s opinion that the CTFL manufacturing industry is entering a new period of greater stability, and hopefully higher levels of growth.
Much of this positive employment turn for our industry is attributed to continued strong support for our industry from national government since 2009, coupled with our trade union’s aggressive “Save Jobs” campaign.
Significantly, this is the second consecutive quarter that employment in our industry has grown, following the 3% increase recorded in the previous quarter.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 16 December 2015
