Distrust the government...Is it just me ? Am I maybe completely mad ?
After yet another recent Stats SA cockup according to todays news 24 article, I took a quick look at StatsSa 2011, and apparently just over a third of the total South African polulation of 51.8 million is under 15 years of age. No further breakdown is given on the age below 15.
If we accept 34% as just over a third (why can stats SA not give a semi precise percentage here, instead of saying over a third?), this indicates that 17,612,000 South Africans are under 15 - indicating they were all born in the last 18 years in the Rainbow Era of our democracy.
Holy cow...but these guys parents have been busy since the dawn of democracy in sunny South Africa.
Yet, further more, if the average South African age is 23 - this would then indicate that half the population 25,900,000 would be older than 23, and half the population of 25,900,000 younger than 23. Meaning that 8,288,000 are between 15 and 23 years old, and this (the youth - hence Julius being over 30 does not qualify in my view !!) is where our precious futures balance hangs.
If these 8 million individuals are not pretty much GAURANTEED jobs in the very immediate future this beloved country IS doomed. This scenario sort of indicates the need for 1 million new jobs plus each year for at least the next 8 years. This is excluding the extra couple of million persons who will also be coming of age soon, in the under 15 at present group.
I am excluding natural attrition for this, as these numbers are just to big for that.
According to figures recently calculated, there are around 5,900,000 registered South African tax payers (not all pay tax, meaning not all are employed) or about 11.4% of the population (if we can believe the total numbers from Stats SA). For simplicity's sake I am assuming that all (or mostly) current tax payers are above 23 years of age.
If the above figures are correct, how is this country going to triple the available jobs in the next 8-10 years, on top of the real 6 million odd jobs available at present, because that is what will be needed just to keep floating as we are now.
How long can the odd 11% of the population carry on supporting the the odd 89% of the population??
Surely we are at present headed down the river without an oar, and come to think of it without a boat even.
How can we possibly have an unemeployment rate of only 25.5 % then. It is NOT POSSIBLE for this figure to be accurate.
Surely someone higher up the food chain than me should see this, and shout it from the roof tops - every single day until the ministers that be actually stop yapping and start doing for a change.
Maybe Anglo and similar co's have spotted the writing on the wall, and hence their ability to say "close a mine here, close a mine there, if we lose a mining license in SA so what".
Heres hoping that someone brighter than me comes up with a very, very bright plan...very, very, quickly.....
http://www.info.gov.za/speech/DynamicAction?pageid=461&sid=31857&tid=88886
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-africa/unemployment-rate
http://www.mises.co.za/2012/03/how-many-taxpayers-are-there-really/
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
