South Africa faces increased unemployment as youth joblessness reaches alarming levels

Trade unions and other experts have raised concern about South Africa's unemployment rate rising to 32.9% in the first quarter of 2025 from 31.9% in the final quarter of 2024 .

According to Statistics South Africa, youth unemployment is currently at 46.1% in the first quarter of 2025.

Matthew Parks, parliamentary coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said job numbers typically increase during the festive season as sectors like retail and hospitality thrive. 

Parks said this decrease in employment was extremely worrying.

“We cannot continue to normalise an economy where four out of 10 South Africans cannot find work. Our unemployment levels and the inability of an economy stumbling along 1% growth annually to absorb new labour market entrants must be treated as the existential threat to the nation,” he said.

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) said the increase in discouraged work-seekers reflected widespread disengagement from the world of work.

Fedusa said that they believed that the solution lied in an integrated strategy rooted in inclusive industrial policy, active labour market interventions, and strong institutional coordination.

“Labour-absorbing sectors such as manufacturing, agro-processing, green energy, and the care economy must be prioritised,” it said.

South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, said that youth unemployment remained a national catastrophe.

Professor Raymond Parsons, a North-West University Business School economist, said that the 1% rise in the unemployment level again raised another red flag about SA’s weak growth performance.

“With GDP growth forecasts for 2025 having been progressively reduced by various institutions and economists to about 1.5% and below, it is not unexpected that this should now be reflected in higher unemployment levels," Parsons said.

"The overall total unemployment level is now where it was a year ago and youth unemployment in particular remains at an unacceptable magnitude.”

Anchor Capital said it was clear that South Africa continued to grapple with a relentless rise in unemployment, casting a shadow over the country’s recovery efforts.

“While recent key reform measures point to a more positive trajectory, this progress has not yet trickled down to many South Africans in the form of job opportunities," said Anchor Capital.

"Structural challenges, such as a skills gap, labour market rigidities, and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, have exacerbated unemployment rates, especially among the youth.”

An economics professor at the North-West University, Waldo Krugell, said that the loss of jobs in the first quarter was worrying.

“It's also concerning for South Africa’s growth. We don’t have a GDP number yet but if you see this contraction in employment it tells you that growth has been stagnating again and this is a major problem. It doesn’t bode well for doing business in South Africa,” Krugell said.

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