State of the nation?

[Tosser]

I’m interested in getting some perspectives on the short term economic climate – 1 to 3 years – of SA.

I’m not looking for some high level economist view, but rather what the people at the rock face are experiencing & feeling.

My experiences:

My buddy who had an engineering business had to shutdown and sell all the assets to pay his debt, because 2 of his debtors defaulted on him.

Another buddy who was running a well know restaurant, became unemployed last month when the business was no longer able to pay it’s rent, and subsequently closed it’s doors.

I’m in the retail industry, and work for a large concern. Currently the sales targets are not being met, although the sales are still showing positive growth. Expenses are now in focus and retrenchments are looming.

I drive through Salt River / Maitland area frequently, and the number of business that have closed and are now for rent is disturbing, and appears to be on the increase.

Retrenchments throughout all industries seem to be the norm, judging from news articles – at least that’s the perception I get.
I know of a couple of guys that were retrenched late last year, and only 1 has found suitable re-employment.

A family member is struggling to find a decent job, seems no-one wants to pay, as a result she currently has 2 commission only jobs.

Has the global recession finally come home to roost in SA? According to some economists views there is another financial meltdown waiting to happen in the states, apparently much worse than the previous one ( sorry, no linky ).

[JStrike]

Actually, I have a different view. Came back to SA from Eng end of 2009. Its like 2 different worlds. The recession was everywhere there, here, you could swear there wasn't one happening.
In my industry, salaries are still great. I only needed to apply for one job before getting the offer. Demand is still sky high

There have been no retrenchments in my current company, and I dont know of anyone that has been retrenched in SA from my group of friends (As opposed to England, where companies where retrenching just because the profits were a little bit less than they told the markets it would be).

Its like the recession just past SA buy (Except for companies that exported volatile goods to countries that were in recession)

[Merlin]

I’m interested in getting some perspectives on the short term economic climate – 1 to 3 years – of SA.

I’m not looking for some high level economist view, but rather what the people at the rock face are experiencing & feeling.

My experiences:

My buddy who had an engineering business had to shutdown and sell all the assets to pay his debt, because 2 of his debtors defaulted on him.

Another buddy who was running a well know restaurant, became unemployed last month when the business was no longer able to pay it’s rent, and subsequently closed it’s doors.

I’m in the retail industry, and work for a large concern. Currently the sales targets are not being met, although the sales are still showing positive growth. Expenses are now in focus and retrenchments are looming.

I drive through Salt River / Maitland area frequently, and the number of business that have closed and are now for rent is disturbing, and appears to be on the increase.

Retrenchments throughout all industries seem to be the norm, judging from news articles – at least that’s the perception I get.
I know of a couple of guys that were retrenched late last year, and only 1 has found suitable re-employment.

A family member is struggling to find a decent job, seems no-one wants to pay, as a result she currently has 2 commission only jobs.

Has the global recession finally come home to roost in SA? According to some economists views there is another financial meltdown waiting to happen in the states, apparently much worse than the previous one ( sorry, no linky ).

+ 1.

...although I'm of the opinion it has a lot more to do with local attitudes to work, union BS and the ANC government.

[jan12345]

The context of the business will determine how the short term economy will impact on it.

[Markd]

i also work in retail and here we are seeing sales growth and achieving the planned figures. Like the other poster I also worked in the UK until mid 2009 when i came back to SA, Cape Town. Got a decent job within 2 weeks of getting home. There was a bit of a lull in 2010 on the career scene I'd say, but recently its picked up. I secured an even better job after looking for about 2 months. In the UK it was really bad though. The company I was at literally retrenched 40% of their London workforce in a single day, and even senior execs were swapped out for people more adept at handling tough times and turning things around.

In SA, the job issue usually comes down to your qualifications (this is really big in SA, not so overseas imo) and your experience. The market seems to be quite consistent in its offerings most of the time.

[2old4this]

I wonder if this a suitable forum to pen my observations but here goes:
After over a decade or so drove through JHB & surroundings & was positevly shocked at changes!
Many shops fronts in JHB were bricked up, barricaded & deserted; same with many businesses around Booysens area, lower Eloff st (once prime), Betrams, Doornfontein! - I came up via Louis Botha, heading north & saw same from past Houghton - Wynberg, many closed shops & businesses, right upto fringes of Halfway House.
However, I presume these are high incident petty crime areas & those owners have moved onto greener pastures!
But radical change for me as I used to work this route 20 years ago!

[TheGuy]

I would disagree with op because of the following things I've noticed:

1. My company is on a massive employment drive as contracts keep coming in but we can't find enough qualified people to do the job.
2. I do installations of new IT infrastructure and although we had a bit a slump last year I'm currently always booked out 2 months in advance. Which means that companies are spending massively on IT and that only happens when Business is good.
3. I bought a property 4 months ago in a complex and the exact same company is now selling those units for 20% more. So property prices are also going up so it seems people are buying more properties.