Black-owned private artisan training academy the Artisan Training Institute (ATI) reports that ongoing retrenchments in the mining industry are causing a downward spiral in artisan enrolments.

ATI cofounder and director Sean Jones says that bookings for first-year apprentices this year dropped by 18%, the first drop in training numbers for ATI in the past five years.

“I believe a drop-off in training numbers will be echoed throughout the artisan training industry and this comes at a time when we need to train more artisans to meet future industry demands,” Jones says.

He adds that oil prices are expected to hover at between $50/bl and $60/bl for some time, and believes that while this could spark off growth in consumer spending, which would also benefit the mining industry, mines are unlikely to do any rehiring during this period.

“Many of the jobs lost will be lost forever and we will see mines increasingly using high-end equipment to pick up the slack,” states Jones.

He says that the damage inflicted on the mining industry, partly as a result of last year’s platinum strikes and the weakness in the global economy, is unlikely to be rectified.

“It is incredibly sad that the mining industry has not been able to benefit from the low oil price at this stage,” bemoans Jones.

Additionally, he notes, State-owned power utility Eskom’s load-shedding programme is also muting any growth that may have been possible for companies locally.

Jones adds that Eskom has said it expects load-shedding to be implemented for at least the next five years as a result of the serious strains on the power grid.

He points out that the South African economy grew by 1.4% in the third quarter of last year and may possibly still meet its growth forecast of 1.4% for this year.

“However, the outlook for this year, though better than 2014, is not looking that rosy,” states Jones, adding that the economy experienced –0.6% growth in the first quarter and 0.5% in the second quarter.