That means that the million jobs lost since the mid-80s have wiped out all the gains in employment creation in the 1970s and early '80s. Even when the economy has grown, as in mid-90s and past six months, job losses have persisted. Between March 1997 and March 1999, Statistics South Africa reported a further 6 per cent decline in employment. After 1997, the largest job losses were in gold mining, manufacturing and the public sector. These levels of unemployment constitute a crisis for our country.
Unemployment is already far higher than it was in the United States during the Great Depression.
The business community has been on an investment strike since 1984. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs. Retrenchments have taken place even when the economy has grown and Economists predict more job losses in 2000. Black, women and young workers are the hardest hit. An investment strike is when business decides it does not need to invest in the economy.