Declare a crisis? Action is what we need
If it was not so tragic, the reaction to the latest unemployment data released by Statistics SA would have made for necessary comic relief in the face of the crippling economic challenges facing the country.
SA economists and political parties tied themselves in knots explaining why it was time to declare that the country’s unemployment problem had reached crisis levels, looking at the government to finally spell out the word.
This came after Stats SA had said the number of unemployed had increased to 6.1 million people in the second quarter, or 27.2% of the country’s working population.
The expanded definition of employment, which includes discouraged workers, increased to 9.6 million or 37.2% of a growing working age population which the labour market is unable to absorb.
What more needs to happen for these commentators to understand that the crisis has been with us for years and is not going away anytime soon as long as the government’s response is so lacklustre?
The sight of young graduates on street corners wearing their graduation gowns while holding posters of their qualifications and hoping to be spotted by prospective employers must surely have rung the alarm by now.
The ability of political parties to pull masses of young South Africans on to the streets for one or other cause during working hours should also have been telling.
On the streets of townships, villages and informal settlements, where the bulk of the country’s unemployed reside, there is little difference between the foot traffic on weekdays and over weekends, as people have nowhere to go when the sun rises.
While it’s understandable why a more decisive and urgent approach is longed for by any South African, as getting more people into the labour market would benefit everyone, not just the unemployed — especially taxpayers — merely declaring the challenge a “crisis”, backed up with political rhetoric, will not cut it.
All of the presidents who have held office since the advent of democracy have shared their vision and action plans to resolve this problem, yet on the ground very little resembling a concrete policy has been visible.
Describing the joblessness data as “worrying” last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa joined the chorus.
His intervention was to call on the government to develop and implement a stimulus package to ignite growth and job creation.
This record suggests that even if the government were to declare unemployment a national crisis, its reaction would be unlikely to be up to the challenge.
For this reason, listening as the “crisis” word was bandied about was not only exhausting but reflected the powerlessness felt by so many stakeholders.
The reactions were far stronger than when the unemployment rate hit a 13-year high in the first quarter of 2017.
The current mood resembles the scramble in 2006, when former president Thabo Mbeki refused to admit that crime in the country was a national crisis, saying it had not yet reached a tipping point.
In the same manner, unemployment does not need to be declared a crisis to be seen and felt.
Former statistician-general Pali Lehohla spelt out the nature of the crisis, saying in 2017 that there were clear signs of regression, notably how parents were better equipped than their children as the percentage of young professional workers had declined by 2% over the past 20 years.
The government does not need more evidence to prove that there is a problem.
It has been aware of the issue for as long as it has existed. It is the lack of appropriate action we should be getting impatient with. Mahlakoana is political and labour writer.