Unemployment remains the burning issue

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Many of us have been in that ‘uncomfortable’ situation when you know you will not pay the washer (even though your window is being washed with your consent).

And let us be honest – these window washers are beyond being a nuisance.

In Boksburg window washers are not such a big deal, but many who stay in the city have travelled around and have encountered this dilemma.

I do not really want to talk about the dangers that window washers pose, but rather about the hot topic of unemployment that will burn brighter as the elections loom.

Let us be honest, South Africa sits with a huge and ever-deepening crisis in terms of unemployment.

The youth is on the streets popping pills and shooting up because there is no work. So naturally they will resort to leisure activities which are not so wholesome.

Window washers therefore exist because of unemployment. So does crime in general.

Meanwhile we sit with an army of public servants of around two million that earns way too much!

Do we really think these guys like washing your window? Sure, I find them a pain in the neck, but they have two options: either wash windows even when people swear at them, or commit to a life of crime.

This is the reality of South Africa.

The other day while strolling to a shop, I came across one of the garbage trucks doings its rounds (don’t know what is the politically correct term, maybe waste removers?).

What caught my attention was that the truck was manned by seven workers (not including the driver). Yes, seven workers!

As the truck stopped to pick up five bins, all seven disembarked and ‘jumped’ into action. I use the term ‘jump’ liberally.

Yes, it takes seven workers to pick up five bins that are automatically tipped over into the compressor.

You can imagine this is not a hard day’s work. There was no rush, no real strain or effort to get the job done.

Sure, I have never worked in that industry, but something does not make sense that you need so many workers.

And then I figured that this is an easy way to “solve” unemployment.

It reminds me of economist Dawie Rood who says that we must not focus on job creation but rather growing the economy.

It is after all easy to create employment. Get 100 guys to dig up the road and then hire 100 more to fill it. Voila, you have created jobs.

That is not real jobs. And this mentality of creating jobs just for the sake of creating work creates an illusion of prosperity.

Sure, to employ seven workers to man one truck helps to fight unemployment, but at what cost and at what pay?

We will continue to struggle with window washers and with a truckload of workers fixing potholes or picking up trash as long as the government fails to get the economy growing, which will force more opportunities for real jobs.

Otherwise we are merely bluffing ourselves.

Frustrations are boiling over on the streets because the jobs created are a mere illusion and a sham, and this is why window washers are also lashing out if no one pays them.

At the end of the day, our economy is already trash (or is that junk?) status, even though we have not received a downgrade (can anybody say “recession”).

It does not take a genius to figure out the government is stumped when it comes to creating real employment, even though China and India are offering a golden handshake in terms of trade partnership that will boost our economy.

Just a pity about all our regulations, rules and bureaucracy that kills economic growth and therefore the prospect of creating real employment.

If the government did indeed have a plan then there would be no need for seven workers to collect the trash. Just saying.