Entertainment, tourism, automotive, and mining are the top industries in South Africa. The tourism industry constitutes approximately seven percent of employment in South Africa. Tourism also contributes to the country’s GDP (gross domestic product) increasing it from about five percent in 1993, to about eight percent in 2006. In 2007 six to seven percent of South Africa’s foreign visitors were business tourists. There were an estimated total of 550,000 business tourists in 2007 compared to 470,000 business tourists in 2006. Total foreign direct spent by business tourists in the country amounted to R2.1 billion in 2005 and increased to R2.4 billion in 2006.
In 2010 the world cup is coming to the Cape Town area, which is expected to boost the economy by attracting tourists. To prepare for the world cup Cape Town and the Western Cape areas are building new hotels to accommodate the tourists. Cape Town and Western Cape will be hosting at least eleven conferences and conventions in 2010. The conference and conventions are expected to attract 19,000 and up business tourists, resulting in an injection of about R 2000, 8 million into the economy.
Seventy percent of delegates attending conventions, congresses, and exhibitions in Cape Town return to the city within five years. Thirty five percent of delegates to an international conference return to the destination as leisure tourists. South Africa has one thousand seven hundred conference centers, and it hosts about eight hundred and sixty international conferences a year.
The automotive industry account for about ten percent of South Africa’s manufacturing exports. The automotive sector contributes about eight percent to the country’s GDP (gross domestic product.) It employs around 36,000 people. But the mining industry is South Africa’s biggest employer with 460,000 employees. Another 400,000 are employed by the supplier of goods and services to the industry. Precious metals contribute sixty-five percent to the country’s mineral export of goods in 2006.
Roughly forty-five percent of South Africa’s 47 million people, vastly black, are impoverished. Unemployment stands at nearly forty percent, and one fourth of the labor force is unemployed. About forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The number of poor South Africans has expanded from 2.5 million in 1994 to over 12.7 million in 2008. In order to halve unemployment by 2014, an average of 500,000 new jobs a year, and 4.5 million 100 day work opportunities are needed.
Statistics show that most of the population that lives above the poverty line is White. There are a significant number of Asian and African households who live above the poverty line, but Blacks have a higher number of households that live below the poverty line. I was able to find charts that show each ethnic group, the income those groups make, and the amount of households that are in each category of income. Most of the statistics I found on the average household income of different ethnic groups came from the South African census, which can be found at: http://www.statssa.gov.za/census2011/documents/Working%20paper-ContentResearch-EmploymentStatus14Nov06.pdf
The skills needed to survive in a modern economy are out of reach for most black South Africans. The key to addressing the situation is to develop the skills people need to become economically active, which will help grow the economy. A new policy for schools focus on performance and performance related pay. Within fifteen years all children will emerge from school literate and numerate. Incentives are given to schools that consistently produce outstanding results, and 25,000 teachers will be employed each year over the next five years.
