ON TUESDAY unemployment figures were released, showing the South African economy had shed a futher 79 000 formal jobs in the first quarter of 2010. This is quite disappointing, considering all the national "gees" going around with the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
This, of course, brought the inevitable press response from trade federation Cosatu, which called for a big interest rate cut to stimulate investment and the economy.
The irony of this statement is that just before the job figures were released, I was chatting to a portfolio manager who is responsible for distributing funds from international donors into South Africa. The money is aimed primarily at stimulating small firms in South Africa.
This organisation put together a report which tried to evaluate the effectiveness of its investment in the country. It concluded that investing directly in grass-roots local small business was, in the portfolio manager's words, "a waste of money".
I am trying to get my hands on the report, but in a nutshell her response was that entrepreneurs wasted the money they were given, failed to turn up for support sessions to help them develop their small business, didn't use the facilities foreign investors provided for them and had no real grit to stick things out to get their small business off the ground.
Cosatu can mumble all it likes about rate cuts bringing in foreign investment - but foreigners are investing and South Africans aren't making use of the opportunities this affords.
This brings me to my point: South Africans need to change their mindset.
Atrocious work ethic We all point fingers at the theatrics of the French football team during the World Cup - and don't realise that some parts of our workforce act exactly the same.
As it stands we have strong trade unions, labour legislation that discourages hiring, a shrinking gold mining industry and incredible advances in factory automation which is going to reduce the number of jobs factories create.
Guess what, guys: new employment is going to come from only one place - and that is the small business sector.
It has been happening in all the big economies at the moment, and it will happen here as well.
Unfortunately, that means a change in workforce behaviour. People can't just expect to get a nice, reliable pay cheque every month with a nice pension when they retire and then run to their trade union when their employer is being nasty.
I just read that 74% of our unemployed are under the age of 24, and a big percentage of those have given up looking for work. I contrast that with feedback from the small business owners I talk to, many of whom refuse flat out to hire young South Africans because of their atrocious work ethic.
In the last few weeks I have come across small business owners who are tearing their hair out because they've given opportunities to young locals - both black and white - who fail to pitch for meetings, take every leave day they can, use the company car for personal errands, shrug their shoulders when they miss targets or let customers down and so the list goes on.
My humble conclusion: if we want to start tackling the unemployment issue in South Africa, people need to start thinking like small business employees and not depend on foreign investors and labour laws to keep them in their jobs.
- Fin24.com