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Unemployment line South Africa. Image:GCIS

Does SA have the highest unemployment rate in the world?

Stats SA said there were 54 000 fewer people employed in the second quarter of 2021, bringing the total number of jobless people in the country to 7.8 million. The unemployment rate increased to 34,4% – the highest it has ever been since quarterly tracking began in 2008.

CapaCiTi gives unemployed youth a digital leg-up!

Unemployment line South Africa. Image:GCIS

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the second quarter of 2021 on Tuesday, 24 August, and it showed that the official unemployment is the highest it has ever been since the government began tracking the QLFS in 2008.  

HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SINCE 2008

South Africa’s unemployment rate increased by 1,8 percentage points to 34,4% in the second quarter of the year (Q2:2021), Stats SA said on Tuesday, which is the highest it’s been since the start of the QLFS in 2008.

The unemployment rate by the expanded definition of unemployment – including those discouraged from looking for jobs – increased by 1.2 percentage points to 44,4%.

54 000 LESS PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN Q2

In more tangible terms, the government said that there were 54 000 fewer people employed in Q2 than in Q1, bringing the total number of jobless people in the country to 7.8 million. The employment trends show that the black African population and the youth are the population groups most affected by unemployment.

Black African women, specifically, were the most vulnerable with an unemployment rate of 41% in Q2, which 4,2% higher than the national average, according to the government’s presentation on the statistics.

“The unemployment rate among black African women was 41,0% during this period compared to 8,2% among white women, 22,4% among Indian/Asian women and 29,9% among coloured women,” said Stats SA.

The Eastern Cape was the province with the highest official and expanded unemployment rates. The dismal figures could worsen in Q3, as stats SA said the jobs lost due to the violent protests and unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were not included in the most recent official unemployment statistics.

SA UNEMPLOYMENT RATE HIGHER THAN 81 OTHER COUNTRIES

Prominent business publication Bloomberg said the unemployment figures released by Stats SA on Tuesday means that the country has the highest unemployment rate of all the countries the publication tracks, however, some of the data from some of those nations are outdated.

South tops the table of 82 countries with 34,4% and is followed by Namibia (33,4%), Nigeria (33,3%), Jordan (25%), Costa Rica (18,1%), Tunisia (17,8%, Greece (15,1%), Spain (15,1%), Brazil (14,6%) and Colombia (14,4%), in the top 10.

Bloomberg said the South African education system that “doesn’t provide adequate skills”, strict labour laws and apartheid-era spatial planning that places black people on the outskirts on the periphery of cities and makes it difficult for them to access the formal job market, were some of the factors that contributed to the unemployment rate.