EMPLOYMENT ENVIRONMENT
MAGDA WIERZYCKA: Unions need to unite in fight for new jobs
‘Cosatu is already showing the way; we need others to join. Call the government to account’
Since the reckless decision to remove Pravin Gordhan as finance minister was made, SA has been downgraded to junk, foreign investors have fled and the economy has entered a recession. Most significantly, political instability has led to a situation in which the unemployment rate has risen to 27.7%, the highest level since 2003. The unemployment rate including people who have given up looking for work is a massive 36.6%. Youth unemployment is 55.9%. Unemployment among people who do not have matric is 33.1%, while among graduates it is 7.3%. Imagine what access to proper education could achieve. About 113,000 jobs were lost in SA between April and June alone. Add to that the fact that, according to the Institute of Race Relations, SA has one of the higher rates of dependency in the world, with every employed person supporting almost three dependants. This means 113,000 rises to almost 452,000 people who have lost their livelihoods in three months alone!Unfortunately, instead of a gove...
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