13 People tend to use the term ‘working class’ to mean poor people, but the poorest third of South Africans mostly are not working. Joblessness is fundamentally a structural problem, explained by factors such as quality of education, skills shortages and settlement patterns – people aren’t living near jobs. These are not problems that monetary policy can solve.
If we did have the ability to create jobs generally, that would be a powerful tool for reducing inequality. But in fact, as a central bank, our ability to create jobs for anyone is weak in the short run and non-existent in the long run.