SA in 'unemployment emergency'

Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Tuesday expressed "serious" concern over the news of yet another increase in the number of people unemployed in South Africa.

It follows figures published by Statistics SA, which showed South Africa's unemployment rate increased to 23.6% in the quarter ended June 2009 from 23.5% in the first quarter.

"In particular the federation is alarmed that Stats SA's expanded unemployment figure - including those who have given up seeking work, which we believe is a more realistic figure - rose much faster, from 31.2% to 32.5%," Cosatu said.

The congress pointed out that 302 000 additional workers had given up looking for work. "It brings the total of discouraged workers up to a massive 1.52 million, out of the total number of 4.12 million unemployed people. Meanwhile the number of employed people fell by 267 000 to 13.37 million," the group said.

Cosatu said the figure published by Statistics SA confirmed Cosatu's view that South Africa was in the throes of a national unemployment emergency. "They (the figures) have given even greater weight to the case for the ambitious job-creation strategies and targets contained in the ANC manifesto, the State of the Nation address and the Framework Agreement on South Africa's response to the world economic crisis," Cosatu said.

"All policies, from government, business and labour - and the SA Reserve Bank - must prioritise saving jobs and creating new jobs. This includes policy on economic development, tariffs, interest rates, the expanded public works programme, community service delivery, rural development, etc. They must all now focus on measures to end the job loss bloodbath and create decent jobs," the congress concluded.

- I-Net Bridge