A drop in unemployment figures was an indication of good labour market policies, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Thursday.
”This is an indication of how well our labour market policies are functioning,” he said in a statement.
Figures released by Statistics SA on Wednesday showed a decline in unemployment from 26,5% in March 2005 to 25,6% in March this year, the lowest since 2001.
The minister said: ”Also critical in the key findings is the fact that the number of people who are actively seeking employment has increased.
”Interestingly, there is also an increase in agriculture employment, despite an attack on the regulatory stance of the department in that sector, through the promulgation of the sectoral determination.”
Mdladlana said the statistics were released at a time when the department’s policies were under constant attack.
He said the problem was not with the policies but how they were put into effect.
”Hence 1,2-million jobs have been created over a five-year period.”
Mdladlana said there was still room for improvement, especially in absorbing women into the labour market.
”Together with the social partners, we are continuing to interrogate what might be the stumbling blocks in the smooth implementation of policies. Some progress has been made in this regard. We need targeted interventions that will unblock any
bottlenecks identified in this process.” – Sapa