Johannesburg – South Africa is facing an employment crisis due to a weak economy and the coronavirus pandemic. Nedbank published research that forecasts that 1.6 million jobs will be shared in the country in 2020.
By comparison, approximately 900 000 jobs were lost after the global financial recession.
“Our forecasts for GDP recovery in the current pandemic take on an invented J-shape and so do our forecasts for employment, which is different from 2009 due to the nature of a 35-day lockdown followed by a gradual re-opening of the economy,” said Nedbank.
“What is, however, significantly different between this employment cycle and the one in 2009 is that even three years after the trough in job losses, employment still does not reach its peak-crisis peak.”
martin Kingston who is the head of the economic workgroup at Business for South Africa (B4SA) said the country lacks the financial resources to withstand the extended closure.
“We are talking about weeks, not months, to get through the levels. That is what we aspire to as business”
The organisation forecasts that up to four million jobs could be lost this year.
