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It could take 10 years to address unemployment: Economist

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PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) chief economist Lullu Kruger has warned that it could take 10 years to address the country’s current high unemployment unless something is done urgently to address the situation.

Kruger says Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is expected to address the plight of many South Africans who lost their jobs last year.

Figures released by Statistics South Africa show that the unemployment rate increased to a record 32.5% in the fourth quarter of last year.

Seven-million people are officially without a job and there is more than 60% youth unemployment.

Kruger says the way government deals with job creation needs to change.

“We are talking about two-million more people looking for jobs than what we had at the end of 2019, there we were already third or fourth in terms of the world in our unemployment levels. Unfortunately, if we don’t do something differently to create jobs fast it may take us more than a decade gets back all those jobs as new people are moving into the labour market. “

Statistician General Risenga Maluleke is interviewed on the latest unemployment figures:

Strike

The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) will on Wednesday embark on a nationwide strike in protest against the country’s increasing unemployment and economic instability.

Unions say the strike demonstrates their frustration against employers for imposing the burden of the pandemic onto the workers through mass retrenchments, wage freezes and brutal austerity measures.

SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says employers would be able to avoid retrenchments if the country did not rely on an economy designed by the colonial regime to meet the needs of the 10% of the population:

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