Busa says unemployment numbers a wake up call for government

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) says the latest unemployment numbers should be a wake up call for government, labour, and business to work harder and more closely to find a solution to the crisis.

Stats SA recently reported that in terms of its expanded definition, which includes people who have stopped looking for work – unemployment increased by 2.3 percentage points to 42 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2020.

However, the official unemployment rate fell to 23.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020 from 30.1 percent in the previous period.

The decline has been attributed to the strict lockdown that distorted labour force numbers.

Busa CEO Cas Coovadia says, “We need to continue as a country to try reduce the unemployment rate but we can only do that if we have economic growth and Busa has for the last couple of years been engaging government and other social partners to indicate that the levers for the creation of an environment for investment both globally and locally lies with the state.”

Employment losses were observed across all industries.

Tune in to @SABCNews at 13:00 as @SGMaluleke will be discussing the latest #unemployment numbers released this morning. #StatsSA #employment pic.twitter.com/ZfhZ7b2jNt

— Stats SA (@StatsSA) September 29, 2020

Unemployment numbers unacceptable: Cosatu

The country’s biggest labour federation, Cosatu, says the latest unemployment numbers are unacceptable. Statistics South Africa reported on Tuesday that the expanded definition of the unemployment rate – which includes people who have stopped looking for a work – increased by 2.3% to 4.2% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2020.

However, the official unemployment rate decreased to 23.3% in the second quarter from 30.1% in the first quarter of the year.

Stats SA has indicated that the slowdown resulted from people not being able to go and look for work or be economically active during the lockdown.

Reaction to decrease in SA’s unemployment rate to 23.3% with 2,2 million job losses