The Congress Of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Wednesday it was shocked that the official unemployment rate had risen rapidly in the past year, rising from 29,4% in February 2002 to 30,5% in September 2002.
South Africa’s unemployment rate was 30,5% in September 2002, up from 29,4%
in March 2002, according to Labour Force Survey (LFS) results released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The LFS is a bi-annual survey conducted by Stats SA between February/March and September of each year. It examines the extent of employment in both formal and informal sectors of the country, as well as the extent of unemployment in the country.
The increase in the unemployment rate reflects a reported loss of over 350 000 jobs over this period. The number of unemployed now lies at 4,8-million. The official unemployment rate counts only those still actively seeking work. The broader unemployment rate is now at 41,8%, with almost eight-million people out of work. This figure includes those who want a job but are too discouraged to keep looking.
The main job losses were reported in small-scale agriculture and hawking. The Labour Force Survey also found that formal employment shrank slightly, losing 2 000 jobs over the period.
Cosatu said the figure was disappointing because it negates the finding of the less comprehensive Survey of Employment and Earnings, which earlier reported a modest increase in formal jobs.
“Rising joblessness spells increased poverty and hardship for our people. It makes a mockery of the outrageous and insensitive claim that, thanks to the Gear, the economy has now turned the corner,” Cosatu said.
The union federation said that in the short run, unemployment is likely to be aggravated by the “unnecessary and inappropriate increase” in the value of the rand, adding that in the longer term, the country cannot overcome the extraordinary levels of joblessness without strong measures to restructure the
economy.
Cosatu said it expects government and business to react to the latest piece of bad news from the labour market with a renewed determination to ensure that the upcoming Growth and Development Summit comes up with effective measures to
create employment and fight poverty on a mass scale.
The union said agreement needs to be reached on: Welfare measures and public jobs programmes that can provide immediate relief for the poor; more consistent prioritisation of employment creation by both government departments and the private sector; ways to ensure that sector jobs summits and other measures encourage more rapid growth and investment, especially in relatively labour-intensive industries and more rapid and vigorous implementation of the Proudly
South African Campaign. – I-Net Bridge