Public entities key to growth and jobs
● Productivity SA was an institution whose time had arrived, said employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi at the entity’s annual general meeting on October 11.
He was addressing the reconfiguring and renaming of the former department of labour to include a mandate for employment as well. Previously, the department was charged with developing policy and legislation to regulate the labour market. “That mandate remains. The department of employment & labour will continue to champion decent work and healthy industrial relations,” he said.
It is now required to change its approach from only compliance enforcement to facilitating job preservation and creation: “[There is] a much clearer focus on job creation — and providing a conducive environment for investment, growth and employment.”
It will now implement labour market policies to leverage “the resources we have to preserve and create jobs, as well as to promote appropriate training and re-training which meets the skills demanded by the labour market in rapidly changing conditions brought by the fourth industrial revolution”.
But wholesale deregulation is a nonstarter. “Workers’ struggles over decades for decent work will not be overturned,” he said. “We also need to promote synergies between the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration], which receives retrenchment applications, and Productivity SA, which is in the business of developing turnaround strategies and supporting businesses in distress. The reconfiguring of the department to include employment must include an enhanced role for Productivity SA, which is already supporting and training small and micro enterprise businesses.
“We will need to work much more closely together to deliver on Productivity SA’s potential as a labour market instrument capable of promoting jobs and productivity.”
The minister cautioned, however, that a strong economy and job creation could only be created in the absence of corruption.
SA is facing massive problems of corruption and a sluggish economy, amid falling productivity, global uncertainty and rampant nationalistic protectionism, high unemployment — especially among the youth — persistent poverty and inequality, and a fourth industrial revolution that brings with it disruption and new opportunities in equal measure, said Nxesi.
A week later, speaking at the National Productivity Awards, department directorgeneral Thobile Lamati reiterated that Productivity SA was key to economic development and job creation.
“Productivity Month provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the importance of competitiveness and increasing productivity,” said Lamati.