According to a report released by the government statistics office, South Africa’s unemployment rate rose by 0.6% points from 32.9% in Q1 2024 to 33.5% in Q2 2024.
A protracted recession and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic have made it difficult for the continent’s most industrialised economy to generate a large number of jobs in recent years.
About 8.4 million people were out of work, up from 5.2 million in 2014. There were 161 million employed people, a 92,000 decrease by Q2 2024. Agriculture, construction, and trade were the industries with the largest employment declines registered, while utility, social services, and manufacturing were the only industries to add jobs.
The statistics represent the first public releases following the coalition government formed in May 2024, which prioritised recovering the failing economy. The African National Congress (ANC) lost an absolute majority in the vote, probably in part because unemployment was a major political issue.
The Western Cape, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces saw the biggest declines in employment, according to the statistics office.
Laying out the government’s priorities for the next five years, President Cyril Ramaphosa said recently that officials thought small businesses and the informal sector held the greatest potential for job creation.
However, economist Sanisha Packirisamy at local investment firm Momentum Investments, told Reuters that since the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been a recovery in employment in areas viewed as more highly skilled, largely in the services sector. Whereas for workers classified as unskilled or semi-skilled there had barely been a recovery.
Packirisamy further stated that significant job creation in the African country would take time, and “as such we are not expecting significant job growth in the remainder of this year”.
Under an expanded definition of unemployment, which includes those discouraged from seeking work, 42.6% were jobless in the second quarter of 2024 compared with 41.9% in the previous three months.
Solly Molayi, acting head of population statistics, said the hotel and restaurant sector lost 87,000 jobs in the second quarter and was the biggest contributor to joblessness in trade.