Employment

I am a 53 year old male that recently came to the Garden Route through circumstances beyond my control. I was retrenched in Gauteng after 19 years service with a good above average salary in 1999 . Now I have to settle and work for a below the breadline salary.

The problems and ideas the way I see it

a. To many people over the age of 40 are being retrenched or losing their jobs. Employers don’t want to employ them because of their age and their experienced picked up over the years and expecting big salaries. This person then gets a job offer but with the minimum wage which he accepts just to keep money in his pocket and to survive. This means that valuable skills are lost to the community.  

b. Salaries are very low in the Garden Route and people are thus moving from one job to another seeking better salaries and opportunities. 

c. Because of the low salaries offered people with not enough experiences are employed which causes work to be under performed and companies closing down. 

d. Employment is sometimes offered to friends and family and not to proper work seekers. 

e. It is not what you can do to get employment, but who you know, gets you a work. 

f. The recent education summit looked at learnerships only for the school leavers and leaves the rest of the employment market out in the cold. 

g. Major companies and franchises have Head offices in Cape Town and in Port Elizabeth but nothing in between. 

h. Lets join companies, municipalities, government and start an employment indaba here in the Garden Route where all can come together and switch ideas and projects to help the unemployed. 

i. The Garden Route has the ability and the infrastructure to become a major area if all stands together and plan towards it. 

j. Most of the residents still want to have The Garden Route run as a retirement place and not that of a blooming upcoming new city where both young and old can live together