From January to March, employment in the formal, non-agricultural economy fell by 1% - to 8.08 million. This comes on top of the loss of 870,000 jobs last year. Then we were in the midst of a major recession which pushed the unemployment rate up to 25.2% - 32.5% if you include those who have given up seeking work.
In the first quarter of 2010 however, the economy expanded by an annualised rate of 4.6%, yet still the jobs are disappearing! The construction industry alone lost 7,000 jobs in the first quarter from the previous three months compared with the same period last year, mainly from the completion of the World Cup stadiums.
These grim figures confirm COSATU’s view that South Africa is in the midst of a profound economic crisis. They will make the federation more determined than ever to campaign in the short term for a substantial cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank on 22 July 2010, to give a boost to investment, and in the longer term for a new economic growth path to enable the country to move away from the colonial/apartheid economy which was over-dependent on the export of raw materials to one based on manufacturing industry.
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