{"id":799413,"date":"2024-11-12T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=799413"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:34:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T15:34:47","slug":"the-only-province-in-south-africa-where-more-people-are-unemployed-than-working-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/799413\/the-only-province-in-south-africa-where-more-people-are-unemployed-than-working-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The only province in South Africa where more people are unemployed than working"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The North West province still holds the dubious distinction of being the only province in South Africa where more adults are unemployed than working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey, while South Africa\u2019s overall unemployment rate improved slightly in the third quarter of 2024, declining to 32.1% from the previous quarter, the North West\u2019s expanded unemployment rate has reached a staggering 51.5%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means over half of the province’s working-age population is either unemployed or has given up looking for work, highlighting an alarming economic imbalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationally, some positive strides were noted, with the number of employed persons increasing by 294,000 to 16.9 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unemployment also dropped by 373,000 to 8.0 million, leading to a slight contraction in the labour force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the gains were unevenly distributed across provinces and sectors. Discouraged work seekers rose by 160,000 (5.0%), pushing the not economically active population up by 214,000 to 16.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the formal sector added 122,000 jobs, the informal sector experienced an even larger increase of 165,000 jobs, driven by industries like community and social services (+194,000), construction (+176,000), and trade (+109,000). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, other industries such as finance (-189,000), private households (-32,000), manufacturing (-20,000), and transport (-18,000) reported job losses, demonstrating the uneven nature of employment recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The data also highlighted stark provincial disparities. The Western Cape emerged as the province with the lowest official unemployment rate at 19.6%, maintaining its decade-long trend of outperforming the national average. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limpopo (32.6%), KwaZulu-Natal (31.2%), and the Northern Cape (30.4%) followed, with each province showing varying degrees of labour market improvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, the Eastern Cape continues to grapple with consistently high unemployment rates, both officially and under the expanded definition, over the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the expanded definition of unemployment, which includes those who have stopped looking for work, the labour market picture becomes bleaker for many regions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western Cape stands out as the only province with an expanded unemployment rate below 30%, signalling relative economic stability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the North West\u2019s rate of 51.5% reveals a deeply troubling scenario: More adults are economically inactive than engaged in any form of work. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mpumalanga follows closely behind, with an expanded unemployment rate of 47.8%, underscoring widespread challenges across provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the North West recorded an increase of 69,000 in employment during Q3 2024, this improvement was insufficient to offset the overwhelming number of discouraged workers and unemployed individuals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region\u2019s reliance on industries vulnerable to economic shocks, coupled with structural issues in education, infrastructure, and access to opportunities, perpetuates a cycle of stagnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the North West, reversing this trend will require not only job creation but also measures to re-engage discouraged workers and stimulate long-term economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Read: <\/a>Big turn for unemployment in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only one province in South Africa currently holds the dubious distinction of having more adults unemployed than working. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":753395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[853,1809,3651],"class_list":["post-799413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-south-africa","tag-stats-sa","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":799549,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799413\/revisions\/799549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}