Speaker and hon members, the New Growth Path sets a target of creating 5 million new jobs by 2020. We note that there is a steady rise in job creation. The Labour Force Survey shows that over 300 000 new jobs were created by the end of 2011. However, this is no cause for celebration, since we believe that there is a long road ahead, and we are thus accelerating measures to increase employment through public sector interventions as well as by assisting the private sector to create more jobs.
For example, we have streamlined key elements of the regulatory framework. Important steps in this regard include enhancements to the mining licensing and environmental impact assessment systems; the establishment of a consumer protection agency; the development of an unblocking project in the Department of Economic Development, which has assisted large new employment- creating projects to overcome unnecessary bureaucratic delays; as well as continued efforts to simplify tax administration, including the acclaimed instrument of e-filing.
We have also initiated major programmes to support key economic sectors. These include the auto industry scheme, which has already led to billions of rand in new investment; the clothing and textiles scheme, which has stabilised this critical labour-intensive industry; continued support for business process services, which has already succeeded in creating tens of thousands of new jobs; and a number of programmes to bolster agroprocessing. In addition, we have expanded financing and business support opportunities for small, medium and micro enterprises.
The key driver of the job creation element of the New Growth Path is the newly adopted South African National Infrastructure Plan. This infrastructure plan will encourage employment creation in four ways. Firstly, key projects will improve the competitiveness of core industries and of opening up new opportunities for them, especially through the Durban- Free State-Gauteng corridor and the opening up of the northern mining belt, as well as security of the energy supply and upgrading the ports.
Secondly, major investments will also go to increase the access of historically deprived regions to the core economy through improved roads, rail and communications as well as enhancing their productivity through investments in household and economic infrastructure and in social capital.
Thirdly, construction employment for the build programme will, in itself, generate thousands of jobs. Moreover, the introduction of a co-ordinated pipeline approach should stabilise employment in the industry.
Fourthly, the commitment to maintaining public investment will act as a countercyclical stimulus for the economy as a whole. In this context, the decision to maximise local procurement of inputs will ensure the greatest possible multiplier from the build programme. Certainly, the current slowdown in the global economy, combined with the fragility of the overall recovery in Europe and the United States, remains a major cause for concern. Government is considering a range of measures both to sustain growth and to ensure the greatest possible benefits for our people in terms of employment creation in particular. These measures will include both macroeconomic and microeconomic interventions. In spite of these challenges, we remain confident that the measures we have put in place will help us to create new jobs. Thank you.
Speaker, in welcoming the response from the Deputy President, we want to ask, in light of the well-published negative impact of private companies' retrenchments on the objective of creating new jobs, what would the Presidency say on the utilisation and impact of the training lay-off scheme as introduced during the global economic crisis?
Secondly, it is also noticeable that the private sector is reluctant to substantially invest in new infrastructure programmes unless government provides financial backing and guarantees. How does the Presidency plan to deal with this objective reality, given the New Growth Path's findings that most jobs would need to come from the private sector if we are to create considerable jobs in the country? Thank you.
Speaker, government, as a facilitator, creates favourable conditions for the private sector to open up new businesses as well as to invest in partnership with the public sector in order to create the requisite jobs. This is done, for instance, through the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, with its strategic infrastructure projects. There is room for the private sector to come in because most of those projects are megaprojects which require lots and lots of capital, and that can only be done in partnership with the private sector.
The thrust of government's approach towards employment lay-offs occasioned by distress still remains in place. Those companies that face challenges of job cutbacks can still appeal to government for assistance in order to ensure they retain the workers in their employ. Thank you.
Mr Speaker, economists have calculated that in order to create five million new jobs, as envisaged by the New Growth Path, we need to create a million new job creators, that is, private sector employers and small, medium and micro enterprises in particular. However, South African entrepreneurs are stifled on a daily basis in their attempts to establish small businesses, to hire new workers, to grow their businesses and to drive the virtuous cycle of economic growth and job creation. South Africa ranks 44th in the world for ease of starting a business, and the World Economic Forum ranks us 112th in the world in terms of the burden of government regulation. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that only 9,1% of eligible South Africans are engaged in entrepreneurial activity.
As the Deputy President mentioned earlier, the New Growth Path focuses on state-led interventions and public sector interventions to try and boost job creation. Clearly, the answer is that we need to foster a thriving and vibrant small business private sector. The New Growth Path does not offer any new ideas about how we can do this. So, what is this government going to do to turn the situation around, given that small business development is such an imperative part of job creation and economic growth? Thank you.
Speaker and hon Mazibuko, the creation of jobs is not only the responsibility of government or the public sector. Through the Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, and the Human Resource Development Council, through the creation of skills and on-the-job training, many more entrepreneurs are created. Entrepreneurs are not only created through colleges; they are actually created on the factory floor. I must say that Minister Nzimande has been leading the thrust of engaging with the private sector to create the space for the training of more young entrepreneurs. Once they have the requisite know-how, it is then easier for them to be supported in either establishing their own operations and/or working in concert with major companies. That process is not only driven by the Minister of Economic Development; it is also driven by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Minister of Higher Education and Training, particularly through the acquisition of skills. Thank you.
Mr Speaker, in order to create jobs, South Africa needs to achieve rapid economic growth, but the reality is that in the two years since the adoption of the New Growth Path, we have not been able to do this. However, in this weak global economy, other developing economies are. Malaysia is growing at 4,7%, Chile at 5,6%, Peru at 6%, while South Africa is growing at only 2,5%.
The thing is that the New Growth Path, with its antiquated ideas like wage caps, a state mining company, and a state bank, has actually put us on a slow growth path, because it favours state-led growth and fails to pursue the necessary reforms that will help to unleash economic growth. Does the Deputy President agree that this government should rather get behind the market-led growth strategy of the National Development Plan, NDP, that was handed over to the President this morning?
Speaker and hon Harris, I think the correct spirit in which we should approach this matter is really not to posit the one against the other. We have to find ways of aligning the initiatives to the National Development Plan. That is what we need to do because that's ...
But aren't you mixing oil and water?
No, it's not oil and water; it's alignment! [Laughter.] It is getting on board this new framework which is the National Development Plan. That is what we need to do, because you can't have the luxury of saying, well, we'll abandon everything, stop, and go onto a new path. There has to be a transition. That transition happens through alignment. Thank you.
Hon D J Selau, you have the floor. [Interjections.] Are you refusing to take the floor that you have been offered? In that case, we move on. [Laughter.]