Francesca Villette
THE Western Cape has seen the biggest spike in unemployment since the start of the year, Statistics SA announced in its second Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
Although it still has one of the lowest unemployment figures in the country, the province has seen an increase in unemployed people aged 15- 64. Nationally, unemployment figures saw an increase of 0.3 percent since the start of the year.
The Western Cape follows the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, which has seen the biggest increases in unemployment since January.
The unemployment rate in South Africa has risen to 25.5 percent – the worst rate since the first labour force survey in 2008. The increase brings the number of unemployed people up to about 5.2 million.
Figures from the survey show that nationally, the rise in unemployment was greatest among the coloured and white populations, increasing by 1.8 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.
In terms of the expanded unemployment rate, which also includes people not actively seeking work, the figure reached 35.6 percent in the second quarter. The number of discouraged job seekers was down from 2 425 000 to 2 419 000.
Labour lawyer Michael Bagraim, who was previously the chairman of the human resources portfolio at the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce, said the government was to blame for the increase in unemployment figures.
Bagraim is also the DA deputy spokesman for labour.
Despite making public that job creation was at the top of its agenda, Bagraim said the government had failed to play its part.
“Seeing an increase in the unemployment rate is very bad news for South Africa. What’s worse is that the manufacturing industry has seen such a decrease in job offers,” Bagraim said. Between January and last month, the manufacturing industry had seen a decrease of 41 000 jobs.
That the Western Cape was still at the forefront of employment, was no surprise, Bagraim added.
“Provincial government has spearheaded the youth employment programmes and the Red Tape Challenge.”
The Red Tape Challenge identifies and encourages businesses, business associations, the government and other stakeholders to cut the “red tape” when it came to smaller businesses. Bagraim said the safety and security of small businesses was key in ensuring a thriving economy.
Managing director at job recruitment agency Key Recruitment Group Allan Pike said his company had received more than 1 000 CVs from students and graduates in a month. “Competition is fierce. You will get 50 people vying for the same position in the workplace.”