The pandemic means things will never be the same again. There is no normal to return to.
If 2020 so far could be described in one word, that word would be carnage.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed lives and caused devastation in stock markets, economies, production and consumption, and it continues to do so globally.
For South Africa, with an economy that was already on a downward spiral characterised by increasing retrenchments, a poor absorption and participation rate of young workers, struggling businesses and rising government debt – besides the bonds collapse, the likes of which has not been seen in 20 years – the national lockdown couldn’t have happened at worse time.
If the United States, an economic power, was already seeing a record 6.6 million applications for unemployment benefits in the last week of March, despite a labour market that has been creating jobs and is for all intents and purposes flourishing, can you imagine the supplanting effects on South Africa’s labour market, which has an unemployment rate of 29%?
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