2011 not the year of the job, stats show

2012-02-07 22:10

Johannesburg - Figures showing that there are now 4.244 million unemployed South Africans indicate that President Jacob Zuma's jobs promise has failed, the Democratic Alliance said on Tuesday.

"The quarterly labour force survey for the fourth quarter of 2011 [released on Tuesday] indicates clearly that President Zuma failed to deliver on his promise to make 2011 the 'year of the job'," DA MP Sejamothopo Motau said in a statement.

"More South Africans are unemployed now than when President Zuma first promised to make 2011 the year of the job in his State of the Nation address in February last year."

The number of unemployed South Africans had increased from 4.137m to 4.244m in 2011, he said.

"Another troubling statistic is that a further 165 000 South Africans have been unemployed for so long that they have given up on looking for work," Motau said.

"This means that the number of people that are too discouraged to look for work has increased from 2.15m people to 2.315m people in 2011."

Motau said there was some good news, with 365 000 jobs created in 2011.

"It is good that 365 000 South Africans have been given an opportunity to improve their lives, but unfortunately not enough jobs were created to compensate for the hundreds of thousands of young people who entered the workforce for the first time this year.

"It is clear that job growth is not fast enough to absorb all the members of our growing workforce."

Motau said it was clear that the government needed new economic policies to generate growth and job creation.

- SAPA