UNEMPLOYMENT RISES THROUGHOUT EUROPE

The current global economic meltdown has affected both well-established, developed and developing economies alike.

In South Africa this week the umbrella trade union federation Cosatu had a three-day summit on education skills development attended by the union's shop stewards from the nine provinves. The main theme of the conference was to tackle the skills development agenda that remains critical towards addressing the skills shortage affecting the labour market.

Delivering the state of the province address recently, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize noted that the province's manufacturing sector had already lost some 269 000 jobs since the beginning of the global economic crisis.

Notable commentators have conceeded that the way forward in addressing the present high unemployment quagmire would be to re-think the skills development strategy in relation to the workplace, and/or the 'learning environment' in the lingua of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA).

The South African government is also reported to have transferred the SETAs from the Labour Ministry to the Ministry of Higher Learning as a progressive measure aimed at getting to grips with the high number of qualified people (graduates) that were encountering difficulties in entering the labour market in the country.

CNN Live channel on Thursday ran the 'Quest Means Business'' show where it was anounced that unemployment figures had risen out of proportion in central Europe due to the economic recession.
Viewers were told that Eurozone unemployment had climbed to 5.9% in May 2009 and Spain was reported to be suffering the biggest unemployment of 18.7% to date.

Even Germany, France, and England are regarded as the most worst-hit economies, and that some 3.4 million people in United States have lalready lost their jobs in the past year alone.

Studio guest Tim Gillian, CEO Adecco, North America, conceeded that fears were mounting of jobless recovery in the United States of America.

According to Gillian, US unemployment rate has hit a record 26-year high and was exceeding forecasts by a wide margin as the unemployment rate presently stands at 9.5 percent.

Even the hullaballoo that accompanied President Barack Obama ascendancy to the highest office in America has plummented to an all-time low.
To lay the blame solely to the Oval Office regarding the global economic crisis will be a misnomer, yet, people on the ground look upon the head of state to provide answers to bread and butter issues.

For the past two years since the 2007 ANC Polokwane conference, the mainstream media networks have been citing numerous statements regarding the policy framework to be pursued by the the new administration that ascended to Union Buildings, Pretoria after the fourth national elections (22 April 2009) in South Africa.

Back to the Quest show, interviewed Obama during the show, he outlined that there 's been a net loss of 467 000 US jobs in June 2009 and her unemployment rate had risen to 9.5 percent.

"We have morden progress towards clean-energy economy and we must forge forward to a new progressive future against the present global economic crisis" said Obama.

And South Africa's Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande is spot on to call the country's citizens to re-think new strategies both at the institutions of higher learning, SETAs and 'learning institutions' about how was the high unemployment rate affecting the working class in general and also how was the democratic government and all its policy framework treating her citizens.

Chief among Nzimande's serious concerns was the vulnerability and the exploitation of the youth in this country and he says they were hired as casual labourers or were being drawn to crime.

Nzimande has also cited the ministerial report that was commissioned by his predecessor Dr Naledi Pandor that found that young people formed 415 of the country's population.
"We're calling for a rethink of S.A's skills development strategy and the relationship between youth, the National Skills Fund and the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).
What new strategies are putting in place to make our youth marketable for sustainable employment opportunities" asks Nzimande.

He further reiterated figures he had presented to Parliament during Budget vote that 2.8 of the country's 6.8 million youth between the ages of 18 and 24 years were unemployed.

Tthe global financial crisis was having a domino effect on the poorest of the poor, the working class at the shopfloor level.

No person knows it better better than the Cosatu Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi who engaged robustly his unions shop stewards when he questioned the capitalist strange-hold that continues to affect adversely the working class.
"We cannot afford to discuss skills 'shortage' any longer in a strange jargon that continues to disempower the ordinary workers" cautined Vavi as he urged Cosatu shop stewards and ordinary workers to craft Skills Development programmes.