South Africa continues in struggle against poverty as unemployment rates rise and job security is threatened.
In 2001, the national poverty line for a household of five was 1,541 South African rand a month. This equals approximately $286/month in U.S. currency; while in the U.S. the poverty line for a family of four, reported in 1990, was $13359. South Africa's unemployment rate continues to grow at an estimated 40 percent currently, increasing the wealth gap between the rich and poor. Though many South Africans are employed nearly half of all employed citizens are in "low quality" jobs.
Monday June 12th economist Ashgar Adelzadeh said at an unemployment crisis conference held in a building in the Western Cape that an almost five-percent growth rate in population has led to the creation of more than 650,000 new jobs in 2004/5, but nearly 80% of those were in the informal sector where the pay is lower, there are little to no benefits and job security is scarce.
Adelzadeh quoted a 2001 census that estimated that fifty-nine of employees earned less than R1600 per month, equivalent to $266 U.S. dollars.
Jody Kollapen, Human Rights Commission head said South Africans did not want to become a nation that relied upon social grants. In his statement he quoted Finance Minister Trevor Manuel saying clearly that the growth of the grants in the past from a steady R3-billion to R10-billion in the last ten years would be unsustainable.
The challenge for the country to adequately address its national poverty issue lies in developing and implementing pro-poor policies, said Adelzadeh, without a strategic political leadership directing such policies.
