{"id":779241,"date":"2024-06-27T09:43:53","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T07:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=779241"},"modified":"2024-06-27T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T07:43:58","slug":"over-600-businesses-in-south-africa-bite-the-dust-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/779241\/over-600-businesses-in-south-africa-bite-the-dust-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 600 businesses in South Africa bite the dust in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over 600 businesses in South Africa have shut their doors in 2024 so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA’s latest data on liquidations for May, 125 businesses shut their doors in May – a decrease of 17.2% from May 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of these 125 closures, 114 were on a voluntary basis, while 11 were compulsory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This takes the total liquidations for the first five months of 2024 to 638. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

564 were on a voluntary basis, while 74 were compulsory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, liquidations have declined compared to 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of liquidations decreased by 9.3% in the three months ended May 2024 compared to the equivalent period in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of liquidations also decreased by 5.3% in the first five months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Stats SA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

On an industry-specific level, unclassified (44) saw the most liquidations in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financing, insurance, real estate and business services (29) came second, while Trade, catering and accommodation (24) rounded off the top three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing saw no closures over the month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electricity, gas and water saw its first liquidation of the year, ending its perfect streak over the first third of the year: <\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Stats SA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Bad time for jobs <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closure of these businesses does little to boost South Africa’s dim job prospects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) from Stats SA showed that total employment decreased by 67,000 or -0.6% quarter-on-quarter, from 10,731,000 in December 2023 to 10,664,000 in March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was due to decreases in the following industries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n