QLFS: GNU must cut job-killing regulations now, demands FMF

13 August 2024

The Free Market Foundation (FMF) calls on the new Government of National Unity (GNU) to cut job-killing regulations and lower the barriers to entry into South Africa’s labour market. This comes after Stats SA released its latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey on 13 August 2024.  

Millions of South Africans are currently being locked out of the labour market through harmful and overzealous labour laws and regulations that may benefit those who are already employed but consign the unemployed to near permanent joblessness. It is time for the GNU to wake up and take the plight of working-age South Africans seriously. 

“The solution to the jobs crisis is obvious to all except some in organised labour and affiliated members of government. The time has come however to look beyond their interests and deregulate the labour market in South Africa,” says Zakhele Mthembu, FMF Policy Officer. 

The FMF has long championed the Job Seekers Exemption Certificate (JSEC), which would enable prospective employees to voluntarily exempt themselves from rigid labour laws. This proposal, says the FMF, represents the most expedient and effective means by which to assist the chronically unemployed.  

The GNU Cabinet was made aware of the JSEC most recently with the launch of the FMF’s Liberty First policy agenda for the new government. 

“The time has come to recognise that employment relationships need not be inherently adversarial. Through the JSEC, those who are unemployed can finally take their first step on the employment ladder while employers can benefit from a more dynamic and flexible labour environment,” argues Mthembu. 

“For decades South Africans have had to endure grotesquely high levels of unemployment. The first real test of the effectiveness of the GNU is whether it can turn the policy tide on labour markets by removing the countless barriers to employment,” concludes Mthembu.

Issued by FMF, 13 August 2024