People queuing outside the Greyville Post Office in Durban to collect their unemployment grant. Picture: Bongani Mbatha / Independent Newspapers
The lessening rate of joblessness in South Africa has elicited calls for the continuous implementation of structural economic reforms under the Government of National Unity (GNU) in a bid to sustain the momentum of fighting unemployment, particularly among the youth.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) yesterday said the official unemployment rate decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 32.1% in the third quarter of 2024, down from a two-year high of 33.5% in the second quarter.
The quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) showed that there was an increase of 294 000 in the number of employed persons to 16.9 million in the three months to September, while there was a decrease of 373 000 in the number of unemployed persons to 8.0 million during the same period.
Stats SA said this resulted in a decrease of 79 000 (down by 0.3%) in the labour force during the same period.
Deputy Minister in the Presidency Nonceba Mhlauli welcomed the results of the QLFS, noting that the total number of unemployed youth (age 15 – 34) fell by 171 000 to 4.8 million while employed youth increased by 66 000 to 5.8 million.
As a result, the youth unemployment rate eased slightly from 46.6% in the second quarter of 2024 to 45.5% in the third quarter of 2024.
"This marks a significant step forward for our economy. The decline in the unemployment rate is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our government working with all relevant stakeholders,” Mhlauli said.
“The Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plan (ERRP) and Operation Vulindlela initiated by President [Cyril] Ramaphosa have been instrumental in driving economic growth and job creation. We are pleased to see these efforts yielding positive results.”
However, Stats SA said discouraged work-seekers rose by 160 000 or up by 5.0%, and the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 54 000 or 0.4% between the second quarter and third quarter.
This led to an increase of 214 000 in the number of the not-economically active population to 16.5 million.
As a result of these changes, the expanded unemployment rate in the third quarter eased by 0.7 of a percentage point to 41.9% when compared with the second quarter.
Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said the greenshoots in jobs numbers must accelerate economic reform.
“These results, however, must be viewed more broadly. Our youth unemployment continues to sit unacceptably high at 43.2%. This is why the DA has fought strongly for pro-jobs measures to be included in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, unveiled recently,” Steenhuisen said.
This was a sentiment also shared by the Free Market Foundation (FMF), which yesterday implored the GNU to urgently adopt structural reforms to the South African labour market.
The FMF is calling for large-scale deregulation to enhance the capacity of the private sector to create jobs, foster innovation, and drive economic development.
Dr Morné Malan, deputy head of policy at the FMF, said the slight decrease in unemployment was most likely ascribable to favourable sentiment surrounding the GNU, but not to any policy reform of note that would be necessary to help the more than 8 million unemployed to find work.
“We need not and, in fact, cannot be satisfied with meagre improvements in unemployment statistics when millions still find it impossible to enter into the labour market and hundreds of thousands are continuously dropping out of the labour force entirely,” Malan said.
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