Press Statement dated 30 October 2018
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) is disappointed that the rate of unemployment has increased by 0.3% from 27.2% in the second of this year to 27.5% in the third quarter according to figures released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday.
Private households shed the largest number of jobs at 30 000 indicating that families were coming under immense pressures from ever increasing costs of living and letting their domestic help go; followed by the country’s big formal sectors with 29 000 workers losing their jobs in the mining industry with a further 25 000 left without a job in the manufacturing sector.
FEDUSA General Secretary Dennis George appealed to the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rates at the next Monetary Policy Committee to give households much needed relief; and to the social partners of business, government and organized labour to uphold wide ranging commitments made at the Presidential Jobs Summit earlier this month in order to turn the unemployment crisis around.
George added that both large corporates and small businesses could play a positive role by approaching the department of labour for exemptions from the National Minimum Wage when it comes into effect shortly instead of laying-off their workers as such a move will only worsen the unemployment crisis currently ravaging the country.
Anglo American’s pledge of more than R71 billion at the Investment Conference and the decisive resolution of long-running disputes around the Mining Charter has positioned the mining sector on a good road to recovery, concluded George.
Issued by Dennis George, General Secretary, Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa)