HILARY JOFFE: A bit 'old economy' but jobs summit was worthwhile
No quick fixes but some ideas put forward have potential to create jobs, build bridges, improve lives
If President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration fails to ignite growth and job creation it will not be for lack of high-level meetings. There have been many with investors in New York and with CEOs at home. There is the investment conference still to come this month and then there was last week's jobs summit, which showcased the 84-page agreement reached by business, labour, government and community over three months of intensive work and meetings. Despite all the hype and the work, the summit has been dismissed by some commentators and ignored by others. That's hardly surprising: the agreements, we were told, could yield 275,000 jobs - less than the 300,000 the economy generates annually and a fraction of the 6-million needed. The summit didn't even try to deal with the dysfunctional policy environment holding back investment and job creation, making it clear its focus was on implementation, not economic strategy. Even then, there was something rather "old economy" about it all, a se...
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