CAPE TOWN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The South African government vowed on Tuesday to tackle rising unemployment through a series of interventions.
The high rate of unemployment is a serious concern to the government, however there are a number of interventions that are being implemented to revive and stimulate economic growth, government spokesperson Phumla Williams said.
This came after Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released its Quarterly Labor Force Survey for the first quarter of 2019, which shows that the country's unemployment has risen by 0.5 percentage point to 27.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.
"The increase in the unemployment rate is a result of a decline of 237,000 in the number of people in employment and an increase of 62,000 in the number of people who were unemployed between the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019," Stats SA said.
Statistician General Risenga Maluleke said the number of employed persons decreased in six of the ten industries, with the largest decreases recorded in construction which lost 142,000 jobs, followed by finance at 94,000. However, the transport industry contributed 59,000 jobs, while trade created 25,000 and utilities 16,000.
Some economists predict the construction and mining sectors would continue bleeding jobs with some companies faced with financial challenges.
Government spokesperson Phumla Williams however said the government is implementing a range of measures towards a new path of economic growth, employment creation and socio-economic transformation.
Decisive steps are being taken including rebuilding investor confidence, ending corruption and state capture, restoring good governance and strengthening critical public institutions, she said.
"All South Africans must join hands and make an extraordinary effort to overcome the economic challenges we face," Williams said.
The South African economy must grow at a higher rate in order to create enough jobs and lift people out of poverty, she added.
South Africa hosted the Jobs Summit in October 2018 which brought together government, business, labor and community organizations to seek solutions to the country's unemployment challenge.
Through this Jobs Summit, the government, labor, business and the community sectors have agreed on concrete interventions to boost employment.
It's estimated that these interventions will create an additional 275,000 direct jobs a year.
"As a country we have placed economic growth and job creation at the centre of our national agenda," Williams said.
South Africa, she said, is on a journey to inclusive growth in transforming its business sector so it can have more people equally participating in the economy.
