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Fin24 reports that SA’s growing unemployment rate is a source of great distress for trade union Solidarity, which expressed shock on Friday following the release of the latest figures.
Statistics SA reported that unemployment in its broad definition increased in the first quarter of 2017 to 36.4% from 35.6% in last quarter of 2016. Thus an estimated 9.3 million people in SA want to work, but don’t have employment. Gerhard van Onselen, economics researcher at the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), said it was particularly worrying that unemployment had not come down even amid the more favourable macroeconomic conditions that prevailed during the first quarter of 2017. This was indicative of an economy that was inhibited on a large scale by a harmful policy, he said. “Due to the ANC’s economic policy, the market is unable to perform in such a way as to adapt to new macroeconomic realities,” he explained. According to Van Onselen, one of the government’s policy blunders is the proposed national minimum wage, which would be applicable largely to a young and low-skilled population of working age and would create a further barrier for them to enter employment.
- Read this report in full at Fin24
- Read Solidarity’s press statement in this regard at Solidarity online
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page