‘Manufacturers could create a million jobs, but government has to come to the party’
Government interventions are key to slowing down the rate of job losses and de-industrialisation, according to Manufacturing Circle chairman Andre de Ruyter. "If manufacturing can expand to 30% of GDP, between 800,000 and 1.1-million direct jobs can be created, with five to eight times that in indirect jobs," De Ruyter said at the launch of the Map to a Million initiative on Friday at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs). The initiative seeks to create more than a million jobs in the manufacturing sector. The first step of the initiative, De Ruyter said, was to prevent further de-industrialisation in belts like the Vaal Triangle to mitigate job losses and stabilise the industrial base. Additionally, the initiative includes bolstering the relationship between business and government to increase the procurement of locally manufactured goods. "We propose that a manufacturing working group between business, labour and government be established to co-ordinate the implementatio...
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