SA will see more unemployment over time, warns economist
Efficient Group economist Dr Francois Stofberg has warned that South Africa will inevitably see more unemployment over time as the county becomes poorer and poorer.
Stofberg’s comments come after yet another increase in the unemployment rate.
Statistics South Africa announced on Tuesday that the unemployment rate rose to 32.5% in the last quarter of 2020.
This is an increase of 1.7% from the previous quarter.
“We will get poorer over time, we will see more unemployment over time,” Stofberg says,
“We will see more unemployment figures until we can introduce the correct policies from a government perspective and become accountable for the decisions that we make and then grow the economy at the 4% to 5% needed to address the high levels of unemployment.”
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The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the local economy hard, with at least 2 million people losing their jobs since March last year.
Stofberg says this trend is expected to continue, with at least 1 million people still expected to lose their jobs as a result of the hard lockdown.
“Unfortunately this is what we have been expecting, a rapid increase in unemployment. We have been quite vocal with the government choosing to go the wrong direction in terms with the severe nature of our lockdown and this is the result of that.
“We didn’t give the necessary support to the small businesses like we were supposed to and a lot of businesses closed down. On average we are expecting unemployment to be a million more when all is said and done in terms of Covid-19.”
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who will table his latest budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday, is expected to announce new measures to grow the economy and curb unemployment.
