Creating employment the top priority

[Dave A]

In Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address last week it was clear that creating employment is the top priority right now. What followed was a list of tax incentives. budget allocations for funding and instructions from on high to fill vacant government posts that had an allocated budget.

Thinking back on it now, what was missing was any statement on strategy to deal with things that are harmful to job creation. Take this truckers strike as example - how is that helping the creation of employment?

It's a bit like sending the troops over the top without taking out the machine gun nests that are going to mow them down first.

Hey JZ - how about looking at protecting the hand that's supposed to do the feeding in this job creation frenzy?

[ChrisNG53]

Creating employment the top priority

JZ really has little option but to adopt "employment creation" as a main objective.

The problem, and it is a problem, is that government "locked itself" into the standard American style capitalist model from the start, i.e, 1994.
In this model the interests of "big business" are paramount. "Ordinary business" is in a continual "struggle" to establish itself and maintain viability. Success of the former depends largely on to what extent the new elite is "cultivated" and benefits. Success of the latter depends on an admixture of ingenuity, struggling with bureaucracy, adaptability to ever moving goal posts, corruption and pure luck.

In this scenario job creation for the disadvantaged masses is secondary and incidental to the interests of business "and the "fat cats".

What was needed, from the start, was a far more "revolutionary" and imaginative model, posting SMEs as central. In this model it is "self employment", not "job creation" that becomes a central objective. It is no longer rocket science that this is the ideal model for a country with our profile.

More importantly though, is the fact that an SME model equates with social justice for being inherently inimical to exploitation and the now renowned excesses of capitalism.

But, of course, a revolutionary government "lost its soul", and its way, right at the start, with the "arms deal" and the onset of BEE, both of which torpedoed any chance of true socio-economic transformation.
See my post on the "Twin Towers of SA" at - http://coginito.blogspot.com/2010/11...th-africa.html

And yes, concomitantly we need "less regulation". The SME model definitely cannot work with stifling, suffocating employment laws as it's dynamism is entirely dependent on highly imaginative, innovative, spontaneous relationships in sometimes very small "units of wealth creation".

JZ now has something of a "nightmare situation" in which it will be huge toss up as to which occurs first, acceptable transformation or Tunisian/Egyptian style dissatisfaction.

[Dave A]

No problems with state employment growth by the looks of things. The problem with that, though, is who is going to foot the bill.

Ninety-one thousand jobs have been lost in the private sector, while 133 000 have been created by the government, which has led economists to warn that the government's wage bill is unsustainable.
full story from M&G here

This graphic from the article shows how government vs private sector employment has been going over the last five or so years:

Will government's splurge on jobs translate into growth in the private sector employment going forward, or is the bill going to actually hinder private sector employment growth?

[murdock]

i must say in the days when the railways employed appies...there were so many that at one point they couldnt provide us as a artisans with a job once we qualified...however the up side of it...there are lots of ex railway artisans who own their own companies now and offer good quality workmanship.

however now the training centre is like a ghost town...what makes me laugh is all the facilaties are there just no appies...why doesnt the goverment start utilising these centres again...eeeish it would mean having to employ skilled people...rather create employment like washing sign boards...then they can give the jobs to their mates...i would hate to know the stats of this type of contract...and how much of the budget is wasted on this type of employment

[ChrisNG53]

As much as the creation of employment is a priority there is once again a somewhat naive approach and belief about the matter.

The fact is that tackling unemployment was always a priority, given apartheid legacy.. Have we just woken up to this now? The answer is, regrettably, yes.

To date the priorities have been black enrichment, under the guise of AA and BEE. In the process fundamental inequality was neglected.

The socio economic model has been a marriage between big business and the new elite, not one designed to tackle social injustice. That elite is not productive. It is only a consumer. Moeletsi Mbeki proves this beyond doubt in his book "The Architects Of Poverty".

A model in which the rich are simply forced to share out the existing cake of wealth, simply cannot generate jobs at any meaningful levels. The paradigm thinking that the wealthy and the elite must somehow find a way to dispense more jobs to the dispossessed majority, so as to keep them quiet, is not only extremely naive, but also dangerous in the longer term. We will be guaranteeing ourselves an ever restless and discontented workforce, because the obscene disparities will remain whilst that workforce becomes empowered by our own labour laws. Demoralization of the State is assured ... and it is demoralization that ensured the collapse of all the great civilizations.
To this end Moeletsi is quite right that the day of collapse will come ... sooner rather than later. See ... http://coginito.blogspot.com/2011/02...d-grenade.html.

In simple terms, the correct socio economic model should have been to facilitate self employment, i.e, SME creation and support. That is the only model that suits the socio economic profile of this country. Self employed people have dignity and live on faith and hope. it is so much more difficult for them to become demoralized.
As to the how .... is a topic on its own. It is perfectly dooable ... but requires imagination, commitment and a genuine love of our people.

[johnwarner75]

It all well-and-good resolving that SA need more employment. But most of the UN-employed workforce are un-or-low skilled so they can’t be pushed in anywhere. Which industries can develop and use them? Mining? Manufacturing?

[Justloadit]

Manufacturing?

In today's scenario, your production line staff must be well skilled and trained as the products are getting more sophisticated.

However if we can do like the Chinese do, where a worker only does one action, maybe we have a chance if we are able to compete in price, but one worker on the line fails, and the system fails. Can a manufacturer take a chance of this size?

[johnwarner75]

That’s actually a very good point. I wonder if one manufacture could lead the way by paying a little bit more to retain staff, but at the same time driving a little more efficiency. Even tie pay to factory productivity, if you work harder you earn more, simple!rn more Simple!

[adrianh]

I met a guy today that own and runs a farm halfway between Cape Town and Upington. He says that they have plenty of work and that they pay R800 above the minimum wage. They can't find people to do the work. Seems they have all moved to the cities. Looks to me like many people flock to the cities and get caught up in the consumerist loop. They need work to pay for the cell phone and MacDonalds to stay alive and look for work.

Another thing that he said which is rather interesting is that the goverment wants to ban the use of 2 way radios in the area within and around the SKA project. He said that they rely on 2 way radios because there is absolutely no cellphone reception and that the farm telephone lines still go through an old switchboard. Now lets think about this, we get the SKA which puts us on the map but the farmers are unable to communicate with each other and their staff - Best laid plans of mouse & men...

[Blurock]

The problem is that South Africans have always relied too much on Government to do anything. That is one of the reasons that our communities are far more politicised than our northern neighbours. Govt. policies also breeds racism and corruption.

We have embraced globalisation with abandon at the expense of many of our manufacturing industries. Nothing wrong with globalisation and competition in an organised manner, but when your manufacturing industries are closed down, you are left at the mercy of your overseas suppliers. Your cheap imported item actually has an added price - the cost of social benefits for the unemployed!

What is required is more social responsibility where employer and employees work together for the benefit of their communities such as the German model. Germany has the highest paid artisans and labourers in Europe, but also has the productivity to warrant it. We have an illiterate, unproductive, destructive workforce. So how do we get there?

Start with your own business - do not wait for others to make the first move or lead the way. Teach your workforce AND management not to rely on politicians. Teach them that corruption does not pay. Teach them to improve their skills, including social skills. Improve working conditions and demand value for money. Everyone has a choice in life. We need to make the right choices now!

Utopia? Maybe not.

[Justloadit]

Teach your workforce AND management not to rely on politicians. Teach them that corruption does not pay. Teach them to improve their skills, including social skills. Improve working conditions and demand value for money. Everyone has a choice in life. We need to make the right choices now!

Utopia? Maybe not.

I think I will have more success importing the cheaper stuff from over seas, tried the teaching method.

[Butch Hannan]

There is a simple solution. Just ban all the trade unions. They are counter productive-less hours less work more money.. They have no concept of the meaning of units produced at the least cost. They are hell bent on reducing the working hours and overtime paid to people who want to work. The reasoning behind this is that this will create more jobs is flawed. I would rather pay some who does good work more money.
Strikes reduce the number of jobs.

[Blurock]

So you are happy to just continue paying taxes and not worry about the future? An informed and educated workforce will understand that the politicians and trade unions are misleading them and ruining the economy. If there is no growth, there is no job creation. Without job creation there is no future, only growing unemployment, a sure recipe for anarchy.

It is time that every South African take responsibility and get this message across. Employers, trade unions and workers must start acting in the interest of the country and not just serve their own selfish ego's.

[Justloadit]

You know, I can only bang may head so many times on a brick wall , continuation of this act will crack my skull, and quite frankly, I have exceeded this point.

It has now become time in which the unions and workers experience the fruit of their labour, to put it mildly, as they will continue forcing the issue for as long as employers will entertain it. When employers stop entertaining these ridiculous demands, then and only then will it change. So sooner rather than later is the requirement. The longer we wait, the more damage is created.

[Dave A]

An informed and educated workforce will understand that the politicians and trade unions are misleading them and ruining the economy.

Unfortunately there is a simple solution to that - keep the majority of voters poorly educated and misinformed