market policies
3 October 2006
The decline in unemployment figures as projected by Statistics South Africa
is a vindication of sound and flexible labour market polices being pursued by
government, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said reacting to Stats SA
figures showing that unemployment has dropped from 26,5% in March 2005 to 25,6%
in March 2006.
âThis is an indication of how well our labour market policies are
functioning. Also critical in the key findings is the fact that the number of
people who are actively seeking employment has increased, accompanied by a
decline in the number of discouraged work-seekers who did not actively seek
employment in the month prior to the survey being undertaken.
âThis reflects the confidence shown by job-seekers in our policies.
Interestingly, there is also an increase in agricultural employment, despite an
attack on the regulatory stance of the Department in that sector, through the
promulgation of the sectoral determination,â he said.
These statistics come at a time when our policies are under constant attack,
blamed for the high unemployment rate in the country.
Several studies have shown that the problem lies not with the policies
themselves, but with how they are implemented, and hence 1,2 million jobs have
been created over a five-year period.
The 25,6% unemployment rate recorded in March this year is the lowest since
2001. This shows an improvement in the labour absorption rate. There is still
room for improvement however, especially to absorb more women in the labour
market in order to reduce 62,4% of work-seekers who happen to be women, he
said.
âTogether with the social partners, we are continuing to interrogate what
might be the stumbling blocks in the smooth implementation of policies. Some
progress has been made in this regard. We need targeted interventions that will
unblock any bottlenecks identified in this process,â he said.
The learnership programmes that are implemented by Sector Education and
Training Authorities (SETAs), are an attempt to bridge the gap between schools
and workplaces, he said.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Tel: 082 808 2168
E-mail: mokgadi.pela@labour.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Labour
3 October 2006
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za)
