Unemployment: Govt must invest more in people, says economist
An economist says the government must invest more in its people in order to grow the economy.
Duma Gqubule has been reacting to the latest job stat.
The unemployment rate rose to 32.9% in the first three months of the year.
Gqubule says that's because South Africa's economy hasn't grown fast enough to create more jobs.
"Government consumption spending increased by 1.5% a year compared to 5% in the previous period and public investment has collapsed by about 24% over the past 15 years.
READ: No big change expected in unemployment rate
"Public investment in 2023 was lower than it was in 2007. So, how can you grow the economy if the government isn't investing in infrastructure?"
He says only the government has the tools to improve the economy.
"Private sector investment follows GDP growth and so government has the tools - the macro-economic policy, government spending, the interest rate to be able to stimulate the economy. There will be 700,000 people entering the labour force every year until 2035. We need to grow at 4% just to create jobs for those people, let alone the already unemployed."
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