DA not pleased with Cosatu

2004-03-26 13:02

Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance criticised the Congress of South African Trade Unions on Friday for saying it was pleased about the overall stabilisation in employment figures.

According to Stats SA the country's official unemployment rate dropped to 28.2% in September last year from 31.2% in March of the same year.

Said DA finance spokesperson Raenette Taljaard: "To be 'upbeat' about a situation where eight million South Africans are out of work is reprehensible and only shows how the ANC, subject to the undue influence of its alliance partners, is protecting a group of workers at the expense of millions of unemployed people by imposing layers of regulatory red-tape."

Stats SA reported that the decline was accompanied by an increase of 985 000 people who had been described as not economically active people - that includes children and the elderly.

Taljaard said it was clear that the country was experiencing an unemployment crisis.

"No amount of number-juggling will refute this."

- SAPA