There is no
doubt that there is wealth in South Africa, and conversely there is no doubt
that there is poverty. And in between this wealth and poverty there is mass
unemployment that is slowly decreasing according to the Quarterly Labour Force
Survey in South Africa October to December 2011, even though it is still
sitting at 23.9%, that is roughly 4244000 unemployed people out of a population
of 32670000 people between the ages of 15 and 64. The most trouble lies in
youth unemployment with the unemployment rate being 51% among 15 to 25 year
olds (Jones: 2011). The question then is where is the money going? Why is it
not being invested into business – which would create employment? Why are there
no jobs for the youth of South Africa?
The truth of the
matter is the world has changed - not only in the technological shift where
unskilled labour is becoming less of a commodity because of the mechanical
take-over - if Benjamin Lee and Edward LiPuma are correct, another change
occurred in 1973 – the year which marked the end of the Bretton Woods agreement
and of the gold standard. The old model has been undermined and a new model has
taken its place while the rest of the world seems unable to keep up with the
change. The economy no longer drives the market, it is now the market which
drives the economy. (Benjamin and LiPuma 2002: 203-205)
Model one: Marx.
In a very simplistic explanation of Marx’s model productive labour was the
basis of an expanding economy. Labour itself was a commodity, and a necessary
part of the production of commodities. The key was to drive the cost of labour
down in order to create surplus capital off of the selling of commodities.
(Benjamin and LiPuma 2002: 203)
Model two: Derivatives. And here things get murky for I
am delving into the realms of the market. A place I have no authority on.
Derivatives are defined as “financial instruments that derive their monetary
value from other assets, such as stocks, bonds, commodities, or currencies.”
(Benjamin and LiPuma 2002:204) What a derivative does is it gives individuals
the opportunity to sell certain assets at a specified date. I shall use the
example that Lee and LiPuma use: “One might purchase a call option for $500 to
buy one hundred shares of IBM at some future date for $100 a share - the strike price. If at that future date
IBM shares were valued at $120, the buyer would realise a profit ..” (Benjamin
and LiPuma 2002:204) The process is far more complicated than this, but as you
can see it seems as if profit or capital is being made from nothing. An
abstract instrument which “circulates in its own universe”. (Benjamin and
LiPuma 2002:204)
So now we can
see the shift, capital is no longer solely created by productive labour, as the
capital that was initially made off of the old model is now circulating in the
market which has its own means of capital expansion (although Marx did predict
this shift). There is no longer a need for those with monies to invest in
productive labour, and when they do it is invested in bigger developing
economies. The exploitation of labour now seems to be the in which newbie
entrepreneurs can use in order to gain access into the new model.
Where does that
leave the masses of the unemployed youth? In yet another mode of estrangement,
for without money they cannot enter into the new model of money for mahala in
the market. And those in the market seem to be living in a different universe with
minimal plans for the upliftment of the impoverished. Perhaps the time is
coming where these two worlds will have to sever ties in order for the former
to survive on their own terms without the influence of a greed driven economy
on their minds. It is already happening in some parts of the world – as some
are calling it “The Fourth World War.” And perhaps this is where a new
imagining of the future could occur, outside of the system in developing a
sustainable area – in terms of shelter and food supply - outside of
governmental rule. Is it a better option than waiting around for the government
to do something, or for the world to change?
The second
option would be to look at Brazil’s rapidly increasing economy in 2010 due to
their focus on agriculture and resources - with a current growth rate of 8.4%
in their agricultural sphere. (Fick 2012) Although The Economist doubted the
likelihood of the continuation of this boom which has now slowed down because
of Brazil’s tendencies to save too much, invest too little, and spend dubiously
to keep growth up, as well as their need for more skilled labour. (The
Economist 2010) There is still room for learning from this example in the case
of South Africa and other African nations when it comes to looking at how to
re-involve the youth within the working sphere.
References
·
Fick, Jeff. March 2012. 2nd Update: Brazils’s Weak Industry Slows
Once Booming Economy. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120306-708430.html
·
Jones, Michelle. 2011. Half of SA’s Youth are Unemployed. http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/half-of-sa-s-youth-are-unemployed-1.1019783
·
Lee, Benjamin and Edward LiPuma. 2002.
“Cultures of Circulation: The Imaginations of Modernity.” Public Culture 14(1):191-213
·
The Economist. May 2010. Brazil’s Booming Economy: Flying Too High
For Safety. http://www.economist.com/node/16167612
