The newly elected National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC will have to focus on the country’s rising unemployment-levels when it convenes its first meeting early next year.
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed in August that the official unemployment rate was 33.9%, with youth unemployment a growing concern.
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa told delegates at the party’s NEC that around 11 million South Africans are without work and that such high levels of unemployment undermine efforts to reduce poverty, threaten social stability and prevent the economy from realising its full potential.
Unemployment has continued to rise despite economic reforms and investment initiatives.
Earlier this year, during his Sate Of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa said the unemployment rate had reached its highest recorded level in 2021. Low growth had led to a long-term decline in investment, Ramaphosa said.
“We have been taking extraordinary measures to enable businesses to grow and create jobs alongside expanded public employment and social protection. And we all know that government does not create jobs.”
On Friday he told delegates that “unemployment, particularly among the youth, is the country’s greatest challenge”.
“Productive activity is concentrated in a few firms in each industry, allowing little room for the growth of small businesses and new entrants.
“Most growth sectors are not sufficiently labour intensive and there is a mismatch between the skills we have and the skills we need.”
Ramaphosa said the number of unemployed young people had reached crisis-levels.
“The economy is showing signs of recovery… The latest GDP figures show that the size of the economy has surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Employment statistics indicate that nearly 1.5 million net new jobs have been created in the past year, although we have still not recovered all the jobs lost due to the pandemic,” said Ramaphosa.
He said these statistics offer tentative hope of a more sustained recovery.
Ramaphosa said delegates at the conference needed to discuss the necessary measures to ensure not only that the economy recovers faster, but that it creates more employment and also improves the lives of all South Africans.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that the economy does not simply return to where it was before the pandemic, but that it is more inclusive, more diverse and that it is better able to provide employment and economic opportunity to the millions of people who remain marginalised,” Ramaphosa said.