30 June 2009
Johannesburg — THE African National Congress-led (ANC) government has so far remained firm in its insistence that it will be able to create "decent work" even in the economic decline.
There is growing concern, however, that President Jacob Zuma 's administration will not be able to deliver on its election promises, which centre on five priorities, including the creation of decent jobs.
SA has slipped into a recession officially for the first time in 17 years, and analysts say the labour market is in distress. L atest figures from Statistics SA's quarterly employment survey show that the formal economy shed 179000 jobs in the first quarter.
Trade union Solidarity said yesterday less-skilled workers remained the hardest hit, especially employees with a qualification below matric .
Economic analysts warn that the economy could shed up to 400000 jobs this year. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has an even higher prediction, of up to 1-million people losing their jobs.
This will have a dire effect on the country, which according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has the third-highest unemployment rate of the 73 countries it monitors, after the West Bank and Gaza. Making this worse is the growing inequality between the country's rich and poor.
Zuma said during his state of the nation speech this month that the creation of decent work would form the centre of the government's economic policies.
The ILO says decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. "It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organise and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men," its definition reads.
Although the ANC agrees with the ILO's definition , Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel has said the state will take a progressive line on jobs. The way to decent work will not exclude low- paid, short-term positions.
He says the 500000 jobs that will be created in the second phase of the expanded public works programme this year will not in themselves be proper, permanent, or well- paid jobs. But they will create a bridge into the labour market and allow for the progressive achievement of decent work.
"Decent work is not a single, sudden outcome; it is a process in which government would want to seek progressive improvements," Patel says.
Analysts remain sceptical that the government will be able to create decent work considering the global credit crunch.
However, according to the Stats SA survey, employment rose in two sectors - electricity, gas and water, and community and social services, which includes health and education.
Standard Bank economist Shireen Darmalingam said this showed the extent to which official spending was helping to create and keep jobs, as the two sectors were supported by the state.
Miriam Altman, who is the executive director of the Centre for Poverty, Employment and Growth at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), argues that if one takes into consideration the dismal employment situation in SA, even working a couple of hours twice a week for minimum pay can be seen as a job opportunity or decent work.
Although it may be considered inferior by those in full-time employment, it is a lot better than nothing, she says.
In an HSRC review on creating jobs in tough times, Altman says public works jobs are not sustainable and they require continuous state funding.
"It is imperative that dynamic growth-inducing sectors be stimulated. These are sectors that are globally integrated, have deep supply chains, retail networks, and enable sustainable employment linkages.
"Examples include transport, capital equipment, high-value agriculture and mining-related industries," she says.
A path that improves the growth and employment generation ability of the economy could also be created by improving the quality and competitiveness of the country's network infrastructure, Altman says.
Although such intervention would not necessarily help to create jobs over the next two or three years, it would set the economy on a more labour-absorbing path into the future, she says. Coupled with a training scheme as suggested by Zuma in his speech, low-skilled workers would be up-skilled instead of losing their jobs, preparing them for the job market once the recession wears off.
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