South Africa kisses 92,000 jobs goodbye – and that’s not the worst part
There are 92,000 fewer people employed in South Africa in 2024 so far, and the jobless numbers move into the hundreds of thousands when you consider the lack of jobs available in the country.
This is according to Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, which provides detailed data on employment, unemployment, and labour force participation in South Africa.
The sectors concerned include community and social services, manufacturing, utilities, transport, mining, finance, construction, private households, agriculture, and trade.
The more granular data shows that South Africa employed 92,000 fewer people in the second quarter of 2024 than in the first.
The National Statistics Agency did note that the country gained 22,000 in the first quarter; however, this is after the market lost relatively the same amount in the last quarter of 2023, neutralising any gains made in Q1 2024.
According to the reports, the trade, agriculture, private households, construction, and finance industries are responsible for the loss of employment.
Of these industries, trade and agriculture actually lost 111,000 and 45,000 jobs, respectively, but this was crawled back by the gains in industries such as manufacturing and community and social services.
Concerningly, while the loss of almost 100,000 jobs is bad, the situation is more dire when you consider the lack of jobs in the market and the number of people entering the labour market.
In Q2 2024, there was an increase of 158,000 in the number of unemployed to 8.4 million compared to Q1 2024.
Discouraged work seekers also increased by 147,000 (up by 4.8%).
However, looking at 2024 as a whole, the state body shows that the number of unemployed persons increased by roughly 500,000 from 7.9 million people at the end of 2023 to 8.4 million people as of Q2 2024.
This has resulted in South Africa’s unemployment rate experiencing an increase in both the first and second quarters of 2024.
The official unemployment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points from 32.1% in Q4 2023 to 32.9% in Q1 2024 before increasing by 0.6 percentage points from 32.9% in Q1 2024 to 33.5% in Q2 2024.
This gives South Africa the title of the country with the highest unemployment rate in the world.
The situation is much worse when considering the expanded definition of unemployment—which includes discouraged work seekers.
The expanded unemployment rate in Q2 of 2024 increased by 0.7 percentage points to 42.6%.
Provincially, the Western Cape has the lowest unemployment rate (standard definition) in South Africa at 22.2%, meaning it has the most people working versus unemployed in the country.
This is then followed by Kwa-Zulu Natal (31.1%), Limpopo (31.4%), and Northern Cape (32%).
Additionally, the Western Cape is the only province that has consistently been well below the South African average official unemployment rate over the past ten years, with KZN toeing the line.
By contrast, over the last ten years, the Eastern Cape has consistently been above the average official unemployment rate.
South Africa’s provinces have extended unemployment rates ranging from 27.3% to 54.2%, with the Western Cape as the only province having a rate below 30% on the expanded definition.
One province – the North West – has more adults out of work and not looking than people who are employed, with an unemployment rate of 54.2%.
However, the Eastern Cape is at a tipping point and could soon join the North West, as its unemployment rate is 49.7%.
Experts have attributed the country’s dire unemployment situation to persistent economic stagnation, worsened by slow GDP growth and poor investment in job-creating industries.
Additionally, political instability and corruption hinder business confidence and foreign investments, further stalling job creation.
According to economists, the energy crisis, driven by unreliable electricity from Eskom, has significantly crippled businesses in recent years, reducing their ability to expand and create employment opportunities.
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