South African youth bear the brunt of unemployment

South Africa’s unemployment rate has soared to 32.9% in the first quarter of 2024, up from the 32.1% recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the Statistics SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS).

The number of jobless people has grown by 330 000 to 8.2 million during the first quarter of 2024.

Employment losses were mostly recorded in community and social services with the sector having lost 122 000 jobs, construction losing 106 000 jobs, finance losing 50 000 jobs and utilities losing 17 000 jobs.

Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said youth aged between 15 and 34 years remained the most vulnerable in the labour market.

Of the 10.3 million youths, the number of those unemployed increased by 236 000 to 4.9 million.

About 35.5% were not in employment, education or training.

The results of the QLFS indicate that the number of employed persons increased by 22 000 to 16.7 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

“The industries that contributed to the net employment increase include Trade (up by 109 000), Manufacturing (up by 99 000), Private households (up by 44 000), Transport (up by 39 000), Agriculture (21 000) and Mining (9 000),” said Maluleke.

Bureau for Economic Research (BER) chief economist Lisette IJssel de Schepper said it was not unusual to see an increase in the unemployment rate in the first quarter of the year as many school leavers and others enter the job market looking for work.

“Unfortunately, the number of jobs available is often not enough for everyone to find employment right away. The increase in the unemployment rate was thus not surprising, but it was nonetheless worrying to see only 22 000 jobs created from the fourth quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year. The large number of discouraged workers is becoming an unsettling feature of the South African labour market,” said De Schepper.

She noted discouraged workers might feel motivated to vote if they think this could lead to better employment opportunities down the line, or they might have given up hope. Stellenbosch University School of Public Leadership director Professor Zwelinzima Ndevu said that the employment rate played a big role in the voters’ decision on who to vote for.

“The opposition parties will use this to drive the point the current government has not delivered on its promise, however in its defence the ruling party will point to factors that were beyond their control such as the pandemic and the war in Russia as part of the ongoing crisis that contributed to the situation.

However, the government has introduced a social security grant to mitigate the impact on poor people,” said Ndevu.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said the province had the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa, but he acknowledged much more work needed to be done to get many more residents into jobs.

“In all sectors of the Western Cape’s economy we are working hard to keep enabling the private sector to create more jobs,” said Winde.

GOOD secretary-general and MP Brett Herron said: “The election posters tell you that people in the Western Cape are working. According to the quarterly labour survey the Western Cape has suffered.”

Cape Times