COSATU statement on the third quarter unemployment statistics
30 October 2018
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted with despair but not shock the latest Q3 unemployment statistics that showed that the unemployment rate increased to 27,5% in the same period from 27.2% in the second quarter.
The Stats SA report showed that there were 6.2 million people without jobs in the three months to the end of September, compared with 6.1 million people in the last quarter.
This is not surprising at all because very little has been done to kick-start the economy and the private sector rejected the moratorium during the recently held Job Summit.
After 20 years of market related reforms, South Africa has not been able to set itself on a path of people-centred development. Experiences over the past 20 years have shown that improved economic “fundamentals” did not translate into improved livelihoods and human development.
COSATU has been consistently arguing that South Africa needs to develop its own unique policies to achieve equitable and sustainable development instead of following imposed but ineffectual and sometimes discredited blueprints. We need a people driven economic and development framework that will prioritise the redistribution of assets and resources.
The recently held Investment Summit will not deliver the necessary changes because the obsession with foreign investment will only become a race to the bottom regarding environmental and labour standards. Workers, their health, the environment and the well being of communities will be sacrificed for the sake of attracting foreign investment.
As we have seen from the latest report; the informal sector recorded employment gains of 188 000, while the Formal sector, Private households and Agriculture recorded declines in employment. The recent Mid Term Budget Policy Statement and the Investment Summit were solely concentrated on the formal sector that is more focused on mechanisation and automation and said very little about the informal sector.
The inefficiencies of the enclave economy and the lack of linkages between sectors and value chains require a complete paradigm shift if the problem of mass unemployment and under-employment is to be addressed. A shift toward a labour absorbing growth path must be the starting point. An increasing part of the labour force that is currently in the non-formal sectors must be drawn into productive activities so that an increasing part of the population can contribute to the creation of internal demand, savings and re-investment.
We also need a Summit that will discuss the challenges facing small Small, Medium & Micro Enterprise Businesses and how can government assist them to contribute more and help with the unemployment problem.
Government needs to wake up because last week’s MTBPS did not spell out government’s plans to implement its jobs summits commitments, nor its stimulus and infrastructure plans. We now see SABC wants to continue to retrench 982 workers and slash 1200 of its freelance agents. We know government wants to retrench 17 000 Eskom workers, thousands at SAA and SA Express and in fact if the National Treasury had its way, 30 000 public servants will be gone.
The people need government to explain in simple language if they have a plan or not to grow the economy that is not premised on firing the ones who are employed currently.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 30 October 2018
