Johannesburg - The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) has welcomed certain aspects of the 2013 Budget tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday.
"Under the circumstances we are finding ourselves, where the economy is starting to recover, we welcome some comments in the budget," Fedusa general secretary Dennis George said.
He said Fedusa hoped the government would deal with youth incentive schemes appropriately.
"We are concerned that companies might want to misbehave and send out older and experienced workers, in favour of younger workers," George said.
"However, the minister said this would be discussed further in Parliament and we welcome that."
Gordhan said in tabling the Budget that tax incentives to employ young people, and for people employed in the special economic zones (SEZ), were on the cards.
He said a revised youth employment incentive would be tabled in the National Assembly, together with a proposed employment incentive for SEZs.
George said the country's leaders needed to be a "bridge of trust" to citizens.
"People are looking up to leaders for direction. The economy is in our hands, not in the hands of the market."
* Visit our 2013 Budget section for full coverage of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's National Budget speech.