Quarter (January-March 2011) the rate went up, reaching 25.0%; in the 2nd Quarter (AprilJune 2011) the rate rose slightly against to 25.7%. In the 3rd (July-September 2011) and 4th (October-December 2011) quarters the unemployment rate started declining again to 25.0% and 23.9%, respectively6. Employment levels increased by 2.8% year on year and reached a level of 13, 5 million by the end of the 4th quarter 2011. In 2012, the unemployment statistics followed a similar trend as the previous year, however total employment continued to increase and reached 13.7 million people and had not fully recovered from the global economic crisis of 2008. Increasing levels of employment can be attributed to targeted government measures like investment in infrastructure development, new incentives for jobcreating business ventures and the energetic attraction of private sector investment. In the hope of creating a conducive environment for improved economic outcomes through a strong domestic mining, services, manufacturing sector, competitiveness and increased capacity for entrepreneurship, South Africa’s support for economic integration of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has been remarkable during the reporting period. South Africa intensified its participation at regional and bilateral levels in order to advance market access, industrialisation and broad economic objectives. While the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has started producing positive outcomes in regard to an expanding exporter base. The National Export Development Programme (NEDP) is being used to further improve this. South Africa has also made efforts to strengthen trade and economic integration in Africa through the Tripartite Initiative made up of SADC, the East African Community (EAC) and the Community of East and Southern Africa (COMESA) which was launched in South Africa in 2011. The lack of adequate infrastructure in Southern Africa is a limitation to trade and investment growth. South Africa’s contribution in this area is represented by the leadership provided by the President in galvanising development financing for implementation of priority infrastructure projects along the North-South Corridor, as defined under the Presidential Infrastructure Championship Initiative (PICI) – a sub-programme of NEPAD’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), with a primary focus on rail and road. The role of public enterprises in extending the huge infrastructure work within South Africa to the region is notable. In the period, there have been some changes to the manner in which business is organised. Chief among this was the change of leadership at BUSA, which represents the majority of organised business in the country. This has given rise to a closer working relationship and better understanding between government and business. There have been changes also in the Black Business Council (BBC), which have the potential of strengthening governmentbusiness partnerships in promoting economic redistribution through black economic empowerment. Coordination and harmonisation of thinking and planning between government, business and labour through the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) processes have continued. c) Corporate Governance 6 Stats SA, Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2011 and 2012. 25