News

Speaking at SASBO’s National Executive Congress 2010, Ms. Marcus said South Africa lost one million jobs last year following the global financial crisis and unemployment stands at 25 per cent.

SASBO News quotes the governor saying the projected economic growth rate of 3.2 per cent this year would be insufficient to have an impact on unemployment. In 2010, the economy grew by 2.8 per cent.

The Reserve Bank Governor singled out infrastructure development as one of the most effective ways the country could create more jobs.

She called for improvements to the country’s rail and port infrastructure to cope with additional mineral extraction, an accelerated expansion by Eskom to meet the industry’s electricity needs, and skills development and education to enhance the country’s skills base.

She described small and medium enterprises as growth areas for employment and called for the re-examination of the country’s labour legislation with regard to wage determination.

She said policy consistency and coordination were essential to achieve a growing economy capable of absorbing the increasing number of unemployed people in the country.

And speaking on predatory multinationals, mergers and takeovers in the finance sector, SASBO President Joe Kokela said that the union would “fight tooth and nail to defend our members’ interests when such deals happen. This country cannot accept takeovers that will result in retrenchments.”

Recently HSBC bank attempted to acquire one of South Africa’s major banks Nedbank.