Unemployment figures show structural problem, reports Busa, BLSA

25th August 2021

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Business organisations Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) in separate statements said the unemployment figures released on August 24 reflect a structural crisis.

"South Africa's unemployment rates are among the highest in the world, if not the highest. We have experienced unemployment rates of over 20% for the last two decades, which demonstrates that we have structural unemployment," said Busa CEO Cas Coovadia.

"Having reached a record high of 34.4%, South Africa’s unemployment rate has surged to the highest on a global list of 82 countries monitored by Bloomberg. The structural unemployment crisis and underperforming economy can only be addressed by swift and decisive action by all social partners," noted BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso.

The measures the Sate has undertaken to safeguard the economy are clearly in need of urgent review as growing unemployment erodes the little confidence that is in the system, the organisations state.

"It is only through meeting the commitments made by all social partners in the recovery plan that we can begin to claw our way out of a decade-long situation where our economy has not been producing enough jobs to meet the growth of the job market," Mavuso said.

Busa noted that government had the levers to energise the economy, adding that the only sustainable way to address unemployment was by enabling businesses to grow and be profitable, which requires an environment in which businesses are confident to make long-term job-creating investments.

The government needs to make structural interventions in the economy to attract investment and make it easier for businesses to start, grow and employ people, said Coovadia.

Some of these interventions are changes to labour regulations, making it easier to start a business, policy certainty, political stability, rule of law and security, releasing spectrum, moving with urgency towards renewable energy and others, he said.

"The unemployment data reflects a structural crisis and only swift and decisive action by government, and partnership with business and labour, can address the crisis."

The official jobless rate is 34.4%, but the expanded rate, which includes those who have given up looking for jobs, is 44.4%.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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