Rise+in+unemployment+shows+need+for+shared+growth,+COSATU



=Rise in unemployment points to need for shared growth=


 * January 24, 2006**

Analysis of the Labourforce Survey for September 2005 points to the urgent need for decisive measures to ensure that economic growth does more to address unemployment and inequality.

We welcome the almost 6% growth in employment in the year to September 2005, indicating a substantial improvement in overall job creation. Nonetheless, despite this growth, the official unemployment rate rose from 26,2% to 26,7%, primarily because more discouraged workers began actively to look for work. In contrast, the decline in the unemployment rate in the previous two years largely reflected the fact that discouraged workers had given up.

These developments once again demonstrate that the current pattern of growth cannot overcome the massive poverty and unemployment created by the combination of apartheid and dependence on minerals production. Despite some fluctuations, unemployment in South Africa remains far above the norm for middle-income countries.

Only a much more vigorous response from business and the state can ensure genuinely shared growth by supporting more labour-intensive industries and expanding the access of poor households to economic activities.

Congress of South African Trade Unions 1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets Braamfontein, 2017
 * Patrick Craven (Editor, Shopsteward Journal)

P.O.Box 1019 Johannesburg, 2000 South Africa

Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24 Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940 E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za**

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