Politics jeopardising employment in South Africa – Solidarity
Trade union Solidarity on Tuesday expressed concern about South Africa’s persistent weak unemployment statistics.
This comes after Monday’s release, by Statistics South Africa, of its Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which showed that the expanded definition of unemployment had widened from 36.4% in the first quarter to 36.6% in the second quarter.
The expanded unemployment rate includes those who have given up on finding a job.
Solidarity Research Institute economics researcher Gerhard van Onselen pointed out that this had been the sixth consecutive quarter since the fourth quarter of 2015 in which the number of unemployed people measured on the expanded definition has increased faster on a year-on-year basis than the number of those who are employed.
He noted that while there had been a relative improvement in employment during the past two quarters on a year-on-year basis, it is not enough to significantly reduce unemployment in South Africa.
“Even the relatively favourable business cycle indicators, such as a stronger rand and better resource prices seen over the past two quarters, did not make a significant difference,” he added.
Van Onselen further said that political uncertainty and reckless policy actions did not help improve unfavourable labour conditions.
“What is urgently needed at this stage is a more market-friendly policy and political environment. Without more market-friendly economic policies and a reduction of government interventionism, the South African economy will remain unnecessarily entangled in red tape,” he stated.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation