COSATU is shocked

"Patrick Bond"  03/25/03 05:07PM 

(I don't know why Cosatu is 'shocked': Pretoria has very 
specifically refused to ditch Gear. It reminds me of the more 
accurate acronym: DUPE. Instead of Growth, Employment and 
Redistribution, we got Decline, Unemployment and Polarisation 
Economics. After nearly seven years, now is not the time to 
be shocked, eh.)

COSATU calls for more vigorous efforts to create employment

COSATU is shocked that the official unemployment rate rose
rapidly in the past year, rising from 29,4% in February 2002 to
30,5% in September 2002. This 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 2000 jobs over the period.
This is particularly 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. In the short run, unemployment is likely
to be aggravated by the unnecessary and inappropriate
increase in the value of the rand; in the longer term, we cannot
overcome these extraordinary levels of joblessness without
strong measures to restructure the economy.

COSATU 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 Growth and
Development Summit comes up with effective measures to
create employment and fight poverty on a mass scale. We need
to reach agreement on:

1. Welfare measures and public jobs programmes that can
provide immediate relief for the poor
2. More consistent prioritisation of employment creation
by both government departments and the private sector
3. Ways to ensure that sector jobs summits and other
measures encourage more rapid growth and investment,
especially in relatively labour-intensive industries
4. More rapid and vigorous implementation of the Proudly
South African Campaign

Moloto Mothapo
Acting Spokesperson
082 821 7456 / 011 339 4911