《South Africa--The State of Employment》.pdf

16The state of employment a z. Miriam Altman c a . s s e r p c r s h . w Introduction w w What is job-creating growth? At what point can we say that we have jobless or m o job-creating growth? If 200 000 jobs are created in a year, is that job-creating r f growth? What about 50 jobs? Or 50 000 jobs? The idea of job-creating growth d a does not necessarily relate to positive job growth, but rather to the sustain- o l ability of that growth in relation to its role in generating employment. Most n w economies require that some minimum proportion of the population work to o d support output, taxation, household livelihoods and income distribution – e e and to support the rest of the population that are not working, especially r F children and the elderly. Relatively low levels of economic participation may be possible in economies with strong fiscal systems and a sufficient tax base, assuming there are generous income transfers through the state, and assuming that this is seen as desirable. Countries that do not have this access to earnings must depend on high levels of economic participation to guarantee minimum livelihoods. Low levels of economic participation, and the resulting social dislocation, are not generally sustainable in the long run. In countries with similar per capita income levels, about 50–68 per cent of the working age population partici- pates in the labour force, with unemployment ideally not rising above about 10–15 per cent (see UN 2004 and Table 16.1). Let’s look at what job-creating growth means. If there is positive job creation, does this indicate that there is ‘job-creat