ECONOMY
SA economy creating 1000 jobs a day
Posted Thu, 03 Nov 2005
Employment in South Africa is growing at around 30 000 jobs a month, a much faster rate than previously thought, a report by the United Associations of South Africa (Uasa) trade union said on Wednesday.
Economist Mike Schussler, who researched the South African Employment Report, said the formal labour market may already exceed nine million people.
"Job growth in South Africa remains surprisingly strong and could at the moment exceed four percent per annum," Schussler said in Johannesburg.
"Using official and surveyed data from annual reports it appears that the SA economy is much bigger and growing at a much faster rate than anyone thought or even realised."
Schussler said South Africa needed to create 360 000 new jobs a year to absorb all new entrants into the employment market.
He said if South Africa wants to halve the number of official 4.25 million unemployed by 2014, it would have to create another 240 000 jobs a year, or about 50
000 a month.
Schussler estimates that the total formal sector is creating 30 000 jobs a month — enough to absorb new entrants.
If the informal sector is creating jobs in line with the formal sector, then together the economy could be creating around 40 000 jobs per month.
"So unemployment will drop, but not fast enough and certainly broader unemployment is not set to decline quite as quickly as policy makers would want it to," he said.
Sapa
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