South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday appealed the people to work towards the country’s growth and a rapid rebound in employment after 2.2 million jobs were lost nationwide in the second quarter of 2020 due to the global coronavirus pandemic, reported CGTN Africa.
Ramaphosa’s statement came after Statistics South Africa released employment figures that showed that the country’s unemployment rate fell to 23.3 percent in the second quarter from 30.1 percent in the first quarter. It marks the lowest rate since the third quarter of 2009. The drastic fall in the employment rate can be attributed to fewer people looking for work amid the nation’s strict coronavirus lockdown.
“This sharp fall in the unemployment rate in quarter two is not a reflection of an improvement in the labor market but rather an effect of the national lockdown, since the official definition of unemployment requires that people look for work and are available for work,” said the statistics body said in its quarterly labor survey report.
President Ramaphosa said it will be ensured that all the jobs lost during the coronavirus crisis are replaced and more jobs are created so that the unemployment rate gets improved. He added that the cabinet is finalizing a program for a return to growth and a rebound in employment.
The South African president said structural reforms, investment in infrastructure, and other measures will play a crucial role in boosting the recovery of the labor market in the medium term.
Ramaphosa added that the government has set up the unemployment insurance fund to provide over 43 billion rand (about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in temporary relief to more than 4 million workers in efforts to prevent further job losses and keep businesses alive.
The South African president said additional social protection measures have been provided to over 16 million South Africans, more than a quarter of the country’s population, during the lockdown.
