Staggering 4.7million South Africans without work

Government's promise to create 500 000 employment opportunities is faltering, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Monday.

"Much more needs to be done to make sure we achieve and preferably surpass this target," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Nedlac Labour Sector School.

"The fact that 73 percent of those currently unemployed are under 35, and the recent entry of over a million school leavers without any matric or other qualifications and virtually no possibility of a proper job, make it absolutely imperative that we take them off the streets and give them opportunities to work and train."

Although there are reports that the country is coming out of a recession, workers are yet to see evidence of this, he told delegates at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).

Still stuck in a catastrophic recession

South Africa came out of a recession during the third quarter of 2009 according to Statistics SA.

"On the contrary, they are still stuck in a catastrophic recession, marked by rising unemployment, poverty and inequality. If there is any growth, it is certainly jobless growth."

Last year President Jacob Zuma pledged the creation of half a million jobs through the year.

But there were nearly a million retrenchments in the first quarter of 2009, and when the final figures are released, this could be over one million, Vavi said.

"When you take into account that an average of five people depend on the wages brought home by one worker that means that five million South Africans were plunged into poverty in the course of last year."

R17-billion worth of income lost

He said unemployment increased from 23.6 percent of the labour force in the second quarter, to 24.5 percent in the third quarter of 2009.

The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes those who have given up looking for work, climbed from 32.5 percent to 34.4 percent in the same period.

"This means that a staggering 4.702 million South Africans are now without work, way above the levels in any comparable country."

The union body estimated that for the first three quarters of 2009, at least R17-billion worth of income per year was lost by 716 000 workers who lost their jobs.

This shrank the tax base and put a greater burden on social spending and meant the government had to support more families with grants.

"The capitalists now say that the effects of the global crisis on South Africa have been muted.

"They may have been muted for the capitalist class, whose profits have been rising more than the economy throughout the lifespan of our democracy. But for the workers it is a different story."