Pretoria, South Africa – South Africa’s unemployment crisis deepened on Tuesday as official figures revealed a third consecutive quarterly rise in the jobless rate. The country’s unemployment rate now stands at a staggering 33.5%, the highest since the government lifted COVID-19 restrictions in early 2022.
According to Statistics South Africa, the number of unemployed individuals surged to 8.384 million between April and June, marking a troubling increase from the previous quarter.
The data paints a grim picture of the country’s labor market, with five out of ten industries experiencing job losses. The trade sector bore the brunt of the impact, primarily due to significant layoffs in the hotel and restaurant industry, which shed 87,000 jobs during the second quarter.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke expressed deep concern over the inability to create sufficient jobs to address the escalating unemployment crisis. The issue has become a central challenge for the newly formed coalition government, which replaced the African National Congress as the ruling party earlier this year.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has prioritized job creation, identifying small businesses and the informal sector as potential engines of economic growth and employment. However, economist Sanisha Packirisamy cautioned that substantial job creation is unlikely to materialize quickly, casting doubt on prospects for significant employment growth in the remainder of 2024.
The situation is particularly dire for unskilled and semi-skilled workers, who have seen minimal recovery since the pandemic. In contrast, sectors reliant on higher-skilled labor, primarily within the services industry, have shown signs of rebounding.
The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes discouraged job seekers, reveals an even more alarming picture, with 42.6% of the population classified as jobless.
