Every third is unemployed in South Africa, more and more people are refusing to search
The unemployment rate in South Africa has increased in the first quarter of this year, with statistics worrying that more and more people seem to have refused to look for a job.
The official level of unemployment in the country, a member of the BRICS and the G20 – one of the highest in the world – increased to 32.9% (from 31.9)% in the last quarter of last year. The extended definition of unemployment, which includes discouraged job search, increased to 43.1% (from 41.9%).
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« This increase in discouraged job seekers is … Alarming, because we would like to see people active in the labor market by looking for work or participating, » Desire Manamel, Chief Officer of Labor Statistics in South Africa, told a press conference. There are signs that more and more working age people are losing hope that they will ever have a job.
Five of the 10 industries tracked by the Statistical Agency registered an increase in employment while five marked a decrease. The largest number of jobs lost are registered in the trade sector, while the transport and financial sector added the largest number of jobs leased.
Black women and young people remained particularly vulnerable to unemployment in the first quarter, with unemployment levels being 39.8% and 46.1% respectively.
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Unemployment reduction is a priority for the coalition government, which was formed last year after the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of Apartheid in 1994.
Unemployment has grown since 2016 and has permanently established over 30% in the last five years.
Last week, President Siril Ramafosa announced a new set of reforms aimed at stimulating economic growth and job creation by extending a program started in 2020.
Operation « Vulldel », which in the local language Isizulu means « open the way », has achieved some successes, such as limiting power breaks, but has not yet resulted in a significant reduction in unemployment.
