Between March 2023 and March 2024 alone, the industry saw a 12.79 per cent decline in employment, or a loss of 4,740 jobs, LNDC’s corporate investment and trade promotion general manager, Puseletso Makhakhe said.

A reduction in the sector’s export markets has affected the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), she said.

The workshop aimed at sensitising manufacturers and other industry players about the need to adhere to ethical practices to win back orders from abroad.

“Our employment trends show that in March 2018, we had 49,945 jobs [in the textile sector], but in March 2024, we were at 34,151. The industry remains the second largest employer after the public sector. However, it had been experiencing a steady decline in recent years,” Makhakhe was quoted as saying by domestic media reports.

Increasing operational costs, supply chain disruptions, a decline in orders, financial strain, partly caused by delayed value-added tax refunds, have affected competitiveness of the country’s textile and clothing industry, she added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)