Only industrial growth can beat unemployment Cosatu expects global figures to reach 220m

SUSTAINED industrial and economic growth in the world’s top five emerging economies could halt the current surge in global unemployment, top South African trade union Cosatu has said.

Its secretary for international relations, Bongani Masuku, said this week that global unemployment figures were expected to rise from 207 million people in 2014 to 220 million.

But trade unions from the five emerging global economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) were banking on the current industrialisation and economic development in these countries to reverse this trend.

“As Brics trade unions, we have insistently placed job creation through industrialisation and building the manufacturing base, prioritisation of food security through agriculture and the accessibility of IT for all countries and people as a priority to enhance sustainable development and social progress,” he said.

Cosatu would be participating in next Monday’s Brics Trade Unions Forum meeting in China’s capital Beijing. The meeting would be running concurrently with another of the Employment and Labour Ministers in Chongqing, which representatives of labour and business are expected to attend.

“These engagements are very critical to the progress required for Brics to be on a different level in the context of the global crisis and the situations facing workers in our various countries. The 9th Brics Heads of States Summit shall be held in Xiamen, Fujian Province in September under the theme – ‘Brics: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future’,” Masuku said.

Cosatu would be pushing for increased co-operation between Brics trade unions and countries to promote job creation, industrialisation and economic growth and development.

Brics economies account for about 43 percent of the world population, 37 percent of the world gross domestic product and 17 percent of world trade.