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Yesterday, Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, called for a debate on jobs growth in South Africa. The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes this move and will constructively contribute to this debate. Unemployment is one of our most significant challenges and we therefore believe this debate to be of the utmost importance.

The DA has already articulated specific policy plans aimed at alleviating the problem of unemployment through our alternative budget. These included the following:

A wage subsidy aimed at incentivising youth employment;
A school-leaver opportunity voucher to support youth development and young entrepreneurs;
A tax exemption for newly established small-scale enterprises;
Proposals to stimulate trade and investment through improved trade promotion;
Channeling growth and investment through industrial development zones; and
Proposals to improve competition and cut red tape to make employment easier, cheaper, more efficient and competitive.

These policy proposals are aimed directly at incentivising job creation. They are a good start, but certainly not the whole story. Any effective solution would require a holistic economic approach that aligns all related spheres of economic policy directed towards creating employment in order to make a dent in our significant unemployment rate. 

There needs to be a much broader discussion about our current economic framework, which includes labour legislation, government spending priorities, monetary policy, targeted interventions aimed at employment creation and, crucially, the improvement of our education system to produce more skills. The New Growth Path released by Minister Patel in November set forth a number of goals without providing a detailed roadmap on how these goals should be achieved. South Africa needs a clear commitment to stable and prudent macroeconomic policies, coupled with an effective and detailed plan to create jobs and grow our economy.

There can be no economic growth path without the necessary growth in educational outcomes, infrastructure development and broader service delivery by government. These issues cannot be omitted from any debate about jobs.