SA sheds 44 000 jobs
FERNDALE — South Africans are stuck between a slow economy and a hard place with no way out of the employment hole.
The dark cloud over South Africa’s employment remains stubborn after 44 000 people lost their jobs in the first quarter of the year.
According to Statistics SA’s quarterly financial stats, enterprises in the private sector experienced a R1.9 trillion drop in turnover – the highest decrease since 2010.
Branch manager for Danté Personnel in Ferndale, Jena Gomes said that several factors can be attributed to job losses, including the persistent load shedding crisis and a slow-growing economy.
“These numbers are also industry specific. You will get your general staples such as food manufacturing, that are doing just fine but the construction and engineering sectors are likely to be the hardest hit.”
A surprising factor is that South Africa’s engineering industry is parched for skilled workers but comes up as being the most vulnerable to retrenchments.
Gomes added that when people in those industries get retrenched, they are often scooped by international companies. “There is a lot of development in countries such as Dubai, Qatar and the UK and South African workers come equipped with the necessary skills and experience,” she continued. “This does not solve the situation back home, of course, because [the] gap keeps widening.”
The employment survey was conducted among 20 000 tax payers in the formal sector where trade, mining and quarrying, construction and business services showed to shed the most jobs.
Gomes added that South Africa is a gateway and not a destination.
“Africa is booming. Places such as Namibia are really coming up strong in terms of development and construction and they [are] scooping up South African professionals.”
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