Unemployment
ZWELINZIMA VAVI: Stop merely discussing the basic income grant
The state must implement the basic income grant now if it wants to retain any semblance of legitimacy, writes Zwelinzima Vavi.
"The decline in payroll employment reflects the recent increase in coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and efforts to contain the pandemic," the Labour Department said.
Four out of every 10 South Africans who should be in work remain jobless and this year more than two million jobs were wiped out.
The proposal comes as the New Zealand branch of Unilever earlier this month began a trial of a four-day work week for its staff in the country.
Highly developed economies cannot falsely claim they became strong without government internventions, writes Yonela Diko.
Most job losses were reported in business services, followed by trade with 162,000 job losses as compared to the third quarter in 2019.
Jobless people in the country’s most impoverished province join the growing social grant queues before dawn on empty stomachs, having run out of food for the month.
South Africa needs some serious structural reforms before its moribund economy can come to life.
South Africa talks far too much and does far too little. The time for endless discussion on economic policy must surely be over, writes Judith February.
The president is focusing on four key areas as he tables his economic recovery plan to a joint sitting of Parliament.
Lusindiso Malgas found a way to spread joy and support his family by drawing up funny placards to entertain passersby in Blouberg.
Emergency relief measures were operational for six months and are due to end soon. But the impacts of COVID-19 will be felt long after.
Andrea Hartzenburg is one of 2.2 million people who've lost their jobs during the second quarter of this year.
National spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said that this was what happened when there was a government that was hellbent on implementing a framework of policies that did not place employment creation as a priority.
Anél Lewis, who was retrenched from a real estate company during lockdown, has quickly shifted gears to now find an alternative income stream.
The president was responding to the data released by Stats SA, which revealed that South Africa's unemployment rate fell to 23.3% in the second quarter from 30.1% in the first quarter due to fewer people looking for work amid the nation's strict coronavirus lockdown.
Economic experts have criticised Stats SA’s decision to define the 2.2 million job losses during the second quarter as economically not active people.
Stats SA on Tuesday said the official unemployment figure shrunk to a record low from 30.1% in the first quarter of the year, the lowest unemployment rate recorded since 2008.
A report published and compiled after interviews with 73 convicted wildlife offenders in SA's jails concluded that 70% of them were forced into crime to make a living.