Wiseman Khuzwayo
Africa is the second-fastest growing region globally and it is projected to add 122 million workers by 2020, creating a continent-wide labour force of more than 500 million, according to David Fine, the chief executive of McKinsey.
This required a job strategy, which was different from a growth strategy, he said yesterday at a job dialogue organised by his consulting company and the Black Management Forum. It is part of an engagement platform between industry and stakeholders.
He said a report on job creation and inclusive growth, launched by the McKinsey Global Institute in August, found that if Africa accelerated job creation, it could create 72 million additional jobs by 2020. These jobs would be in agriculture, manufacturing, retail and hospitality, government and social services.
Steven Friedman, an academic and political analyst, said it was a reality that millions of South Africans would not work in the formal sector in their lifetimes.
He said there had been jobless growth during the past few years. One thing the government was doing right, was that 15 million people were on social grants, making them economically active.
But South Africa had to look at its inherited inequality, Friedman said. He said a survey of the formal job market 18 years into democracy found that a black person would take three to six months longer to find a job than a white counterpart with the same qualifications.
Friedman said the divisions were severe and trust had to be built. But there had been very creative agreements in the automotive and textile industries to create and preserve jobs.
“The idea that one actor will solve the problem is false. A business survey is conducted and it says this needs to be done. What business says needs to be done is just one sector. There are other sectors,” Friedman said.
Busani Ngcaweni, the deputy director-general in the presidency, said that unless the economic institutions were strengthened, South Africa would not be able to achieve the goals of the National Growth Path.
He said South Africa did not have a clear policy on formalising the informal sector and unless this was done, the sector would remain vulnerable.