13.6 million people aged between 15 and 64 who are not in employment, education or training. Of these, 2.9 million are in KwaZulu-Natal
|||Durban - Five years after passing matric, Jackie-Lee Moodley, 22, is still searching for a job. Having sent her CV to numerous companies over the years without any success she now depends on her mother to support her.
But she is not alone, as there is a growing army of unemployed in the country: 13.6 million of them aged between 15 and 64 who are not in employment, education or training.
Of these, 2.9 million in KwaZulu-Natal cannot find work.
As the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey from Stats SA shows, Moodley is just one of the 3.484 million aged between 15 and 24 who can’t find work, of which 32.4 percent are in KZN. Stats SA released the 2013 first quarter figures earlier this week.
But unlike the 2.3 million others that Stats SA says have now given up looking for employment, Moodley is still confident she will find a job. She feels, though, that financial problems are keeping her from furthering her education, she says.
Overall, the unemployment crisis in South Africa is deepening with more than 4.6 million people actively seeking work in the first quarter of this year.
There are 15 million not economically active, among them the 2.3 million individuals recorded as discouraged job seekers. In the same period last year the number stood at 2.335 million – showing a slight decrease of 5 000.
The country’s unemployment rate has increased from 24.9 in the last quarter of 2012 to 25.2 in the first quarter of 2013 and analysts warn that this is a ticking time bomb.
Leading economist Dawie Roodt of the Efficient Group warned that the situation would remain unchanged or might even get worse unless drastic actions are taken.
“It is really an egg and chicken situation, we are not creating more jobs because the economy is not growing as it should, but also for the economy to grow you need more people to be employed,” he said.
Roodt blamed the country’s strong labour movement, especially Cosatu, and the labour legislation which he said made it difficult for employers to hire new workers.
“The labour movement, especially Cosatu, which is part of government, can force employers to pay out-of-line wages,” he said.
“This has led to a situation where the wage increases far exceed the increase in production.”
The DA also hit out at Cosatu, saying that before the problem of unemployment could be addressed, President Jacob Zuma would have to stand up to the labour federation.
DA spokesman on finance, Tim Harris, said that pro-growth policies needed to be implemented in order to avert this crisis. These would include the implementation of the National Development Plan which had been sharply criticised by some Cosatu affiliates.
Roodt said that because of the tough labour legislation many people were now moving away from the formal economy.
“Some people would rather establish businesses in their backyard, hire a few people and not register them,” he said.
Another downside of the deepening unemployment crisis was that the few who were employed now had to shoulder the burden of those who were unemployed, Roodt said.
Cosatu spokesman, Patrick Craven, expressed shock at the latest unemployment figures but said blaming the labour movement for this was absurd.
He warned that the situation was getting dire and that it could explode.
“We are already seeing many protests by communities and in most cases what is underlying those is the issue of unemployment,” he said.
He however rejected the idea of relaxing labour laws as a solution saying this would only lead to more exploitation of workers who are already finding it difficult to make ends meet.
“Those who are saying we must relax labour laws say so because they simply want to cut the wages of the existing workers. Cutting the wages would not solve the problem because workers already have to support many family members, so cutting the salary of one worker would mean making things hard for that family,” Craven said. He said the solution lay in restructuring the economy to focus more on manufacturing rather than on exporting raw materials.
Roodt said with the private sector finding it difficult to employ people, the State was now becoming the largest employer, but added that this was unsustainable as the State was “inefficient and unproductive”.
The statistics show that the number of unemployed people in KZN increased by 3.5 percentage points (from 649 000 in 2012 first quarter 672 000 in the same period this year).
However, there is a decrease when comparisons are made between the first quarter of 2013 and the fourth quarter of 2012. In the latter period there were 722 000 people who were unemployed in the province.
There were less work-seekers in the province who had given up, with the survey showing that they had decreased from 579 000 in the first quarter of 2012 to 574 000 in the same period this year.
The main reason given for not seeking work included: no jobs available in the area; unable to find work requiring his/her skills; lost hope of finding any kind of work.
In Durban, the eThekwini Municipality, one of the biggest employers in the province, recently converted about 2 000 temporary employees into permanent contract employees.
The municipality plans to take on 10 times more interns in the next financial year.
“We will provide 2 000 interns exposure to the working environment, giving them experience to better compete in the job market,” spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said.
Daily News