Business Report writes that SA’s troubled economy continues to bleed jobs, with the battered manufacturing sector letting go of 13,000 workers in the second quarter of the year.
The Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) released by Statistics SA on Wednesday showed that employment decreased by 69,000 quarter-on-quarter to 9,748,000 in June. The job numbers in the mining and utilities sectors also underwhelmed, with each sector recording losses of 2,000 jobs. Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) economist Marique Kruger said the current low growth posed a serious challenge to dealing with the unemployment crisis and effectively implementing the economic stimulus plan. “Seifsa is seriously concerned about the jobs lost in the manufacturing sector during the second quarter and eagerly looks forward to the implementation of the economic stimulus plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week,” Kruger said. With unemployment currently at 27.2%, a jobs and investment summit will soon be hosted aimed at bringing in new investments and boosting jobs creation. “The outlook for job creation does not look promising for the remainder of 2018 as the expected rebound in GDP growth in the second half will be modest,” said NKC African Economics’ Gerrit van Rooyen.
- Read this report by Kabelo Khumalo in full at Business Report
- Read too, Economists call on government to act now on staggering job losses, at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page