What has happened to the 500 000 jobs JZ?
Sit with me and let's debate
Below an extract from an article by SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE writing for Business Report. These numbers are a sober reminder that we have some way to go before we start to see a real improvement.
While the economists are saying that signs are improving the real economy is in your pocket. As long as you feel the pinch times are tough.
With the festive season around the corner, let’s not get ourselves deeper into the debt trap. If you can try to start putting something away to spend on gifts et al. Don’t wait until it is too late.
SA job losses this year hit one million
Unemployment almost hits 25% from 23% last year
October 30, 2009
A staggering 484 000 jobs were lost in the third quarter of this year, data showed yesterday, more than the first two quarters combined. This brings the total of job losses this year to an additional 1 million South Africans as the recession tightened its grip.
The third-quarter losses exceed the 475 000 jobs shed in the first six months of the year, and economists say that only when an economic recovery is well under way will industry start to create jobs again.
Danelee van Dyk, an economist at Standard Bank, said: “It’s difficult to make a call because the environment is so uncertain. The recovery is likely to be jobless initially. And we can only expect to see employment prospects improving by 2011.”
The quarterly labour force survey (QLFS), released yesterday by Statistics SA, showed that with 4.2 million people now officially unemployed, the unemployment rate has increased to 24.5 percent from 23.2 percent a year earlier.
But taking into account the number of discouraged work seekers – the 1.6 million people who want to work but had given up trying – those without jobs now stands at 5.8 million people.
Gillian Findlay, an economist at Economists.co.za, said the expanded unemployment rate, which included discouraged work seekers, was 31.9 percent, up from 29.7 percent last quarter and 27.6 percent a year ago.
