By Jade Witten
South Africans considering emigrating have been urged by a respected analyst to take the positive transition over the past 30 years into account before moving abroad.
Political and economic trend analyst J P Landman held a seminar in the city on Tuesday night where he explained exactly why the 500 business people who attended the event, and all of South Africa, should not pack up and leave.
Landman acknowledged negatives such as crime, ever rising food and fuel costs and the ongoing power crisis.
But Tuesday night was about highlighting the positives such as South Africa's consistent economic and employment growth rates and steady public and private investments.
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Landman said that during the 1980s about 4 000 people were killed each year through political violence and there was a 12 percent decline in the economy. In stark contrast, the economy had grown by 24 percent post-1994.
"SA has progressed - made a substantial and meaningful change," he said.
Landman said the percentage of employed people within the 15- to 65-year age group had increased by more than 10 percent over the past 12 years.
In 1995 some 9.5 million people were employed, equalling a total 39 percent employment rate across the formal and informal sector.
And in 2007, when the last employment rate study was conducted, 13.2 million out of 30.4 million people were employed.
This means that 3.7 million people joined the workforce since 1995, bringing the new total to 43 percent.
The US and EU countries have an employment rate of 73 percent and 66 percent respectively.
Landman predicted that, if the economy continued to grow as it had, just under half of South Africa's population would be employed by 2014.
Infrastructural investment increased by 5 percent in the past eight years and that percentage was set to rise to 8 percent by next year, he said.
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