New jobs scarce in Western Cape
JOBS NEWS
Fin24 - May 12th 2011, 08:14
Cape Town - The Western Cape economy is showing healthy growth, as indicated by the Sake24 and BoE Private Clients latest barometer information for March.
But its economy is struggling – like the rest of the country – to create sorely needed new jobs.
In March its barometer rose 11.5% to 112.6 index points compared with last year. It was 0.5% up on the previous month, and for the three months to end-March it improved 7.8% compared with the previous three months.
Economists.co.za economist Mike Schüssler, who compiled the barometer, said that in March national government expenditure reached a high of R55bn countrywide, helping to push up the Western Cape Barometer.
He ascribed the strong increase of state expenditure to the ending of the fiscal year.
Although Western Cape unemployment was 22.2%, compared with a national average of 25%, Schüssler said it was concerning that the province was unable to create more jobs despite its good economic growth.
The province's stress index, which indicates that type of pressure on business people, did however slide 1.4% in March – helped by inflation which, at 4%, was slightly lower than the national average, and the number of civil indebtedness court cases being 44.3% down on the year before.
In March all the sub-indices in the Western Cape Barometer, other than agriculture and construction, were in positive territory compared with the year before.
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