The Manufacturing Circle has teamed up with a number of industry associations across a range of subsectors – including plastics and packaging, chemicals, agro-processing and steel – to launch an ambitious project to create one million more jobs in South Africa.
Dubbed ‘Map to a Million’, the initiative would identify current constraints to manufacturing investment in the country and propose remedies, which would in turn create jobs, Manufacturing Circle chairperson, Andre de Ruyters, told delegates at a two-day Manufacturing Indaba in Johannesburg yesterday (Tuesday).
Surveys and consultations with both industry and government will be held over the next two months, with the intention of finalising a report in time to influence the 2018/19 Industrial Policy Action Plan (Ipap) of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Earlier this month, statistician general, Pali Lehohla, announced that the unemployment rate in South Africa had increased to 27.7% in the first quarter of 2017 - the highest in 13 years. This included 4 000 job losses in the manufacturing sector.
