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BL Premium reports that public health researchers have challenged the claim of SA Canegrowers that the government’s introduction of a tax on sugary drinks triggered the loss of more than 16,000 jobs.
They say their analysis of Stats SA’s regular labour force surveys found no evidence for this at all. Instead, their research concluded the drop in employment recorded after the health promotion levy was introduced was associated with Covid-19. SA introduced the health promotion levy in April 2018 in a bid to curb the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for health reasons. Implementation of the tax met fierce resistance from beverage producers, sugar cane growers and related players, which have continued to lobby against it. Last week, SA Canegrowers said the tax had suppressed the market for locally produced sugar and warned that next year’s planned increase in the health promotion levy would lead to further job losses. In response, the Healthy Living Alliance released a study that analysed Stats SA’s quarterly labour force survey and found no association between job losses and the introduction of the health promotion levy. “To say the health promotion levy is responsible for a decline in employment is grossly untrue,” said lead researcher Chengetai Dare. SA Canegrowers CEO Thomas Funke reacted that the organisation stood by the figure of 16,000 job losses, which came from an independent study commissioned Nedlac released in November 2020. SA Canegrowers conducted annual surveys among its members and reached a similar conclusion, said Funke, who added that there had been a “step change” in employment on sugar cane farms following the implementation of the sugar tax, with the loss of about 10,000 jobs.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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