The increase in North West’s unemployment rate to 43,4% comes as no surprise as the failing ANC remains clueless on growing the economy and rooting out corruption, invest in critical infrastructure and open fair access to real and long-term jobs, especially for the youth, says the DA in a statement issued this week.
According to the recently released Quarter Labour Force Survey, North West’s real unemployment rate, which includes those persons who have given up looking for work, saw a 0.5% point increase to 43.4%.
The construction and mining sectors recorded the largest job losses at 16 000 and 14 000 respectively.
The leader of the DA in North West, Joe McGluwa said “out of a labour force of 1,7 million people, only 979 000 people are employed, leaving more than 767 000 are unable to find work. This is an indication of the dire economic situation in the North West, largely due to the failing ANC government’s inability to attract investment to spur growth that can create jobs.”
McGluwa said “over the last few months, we uncovered various scandals that is not only robbing people of services but also of the opportunity to get a job.
“The scandalous failure of the Shiva Uranium mine is but one example of how the corrupt relationship between the failing ANC and the Gupta family has left hundreds of people unemployed. Purchased through an R280 million loan from the Industrial Development Corporation, 300 people have been left unemployed due to the collapse of mining operations.
“In his first 100 days, Premier Job Mokgoro committed himself to grow the economy by attracting investment that will create sustainable jobs. However, all economic indicators show that he has failed to do so.
“Wasteful, irregular, fruitless and unauthorized expenditure continues to grow unchecked under Premier Mokgoro and this has diverted public funds away from essential public works programs to reduce unemployment.
“In Tswaing municipality, 42 ghost employees continue to get paid by this cash-strapped municipality each month, further worsening the salary bill which gobbles up 44% of the annual budget for the municipality. In all this, residents make do with poor service delivery and collapsing infrastructure.
“In Matlosana, an R40 million training facility that was supposed to be developed into a hotel school to train young people remains underdeveloped and underutilized, further depriving our youth of skills needed for the job market”, McGluwa said.
