{"id":89709,"date":"2024-11-18T12:04:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T12:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=89709"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:38:56","slug":"south-africa-unemployment-crisis-provincial-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/11\/18\/south-africa-unemployment-crisis-provincial-breakdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Young people are bearing the brunt of SA’s unemployment crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa continues to grapple with a staggering unemployment crisis, with rates far exceeding global averages. While the world’s unemployment rate stood at 5.1% last year, South Africa recorded 32.1% in the final quarter of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Half of the working age population in South Africa is under the age of 35, that\u2019s about 21-million people. Only about 6-million were employed, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for July to September 2024. The unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 years is 60.2%, and for age 25 to 34 years, it\u2019s 40.4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Provincial breakdown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unemployment isn\u2019t evenly spread around the country. Although StatsSA\u2019s public data doesn\u2019t breakdown youth unemployment by province, you can get a fairly good idea of what\u2019s going on from the provincial estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only one province has an unemployment rate below 30% and that\u2019s the Western Cape. Its unemployment rate has been consistently below the national rate since 2008. Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, which used to be below the national rate, are now pretty much on a par with it. At between 36% and 37%, the Eastern Cape, North West and the Free State have the highest unemployment rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labour force that is unemployed. But the labour force does not include a category of people who are classified as not economically active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes students, home-makers, people who are ill or have disabilities, people who are too young or old to work as well as discouraged work seekers. Roughly 20% of the \u2018not economically active\u2019 group are discouraged work seekers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Not economically active\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not economically active people make up 40% of the total estimated working age population of the country. In the Western Cape, it\u2019s 33% and in Gauteng, it\u2019s 32.7%. Half of the working age population in the Eastern Cape (49%) is not economically active and in the Northern Cape, North West and KwaZulu-Natal it is about 45%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western Cape has the smallest proportion of discouraged work seekers at 10%. Gauteng has 16%. Limpopo and Mpumalanga have the highest at around 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discouraged work seekers are included in the unemployment rate to calculate the expanded unemployment rate, which is 41.9% for the July to September 2024 quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If 40% of the working age population is not economically active, then the remaining 60% are participating in the labour force. This is in line with the global labour force participation rate, which the International Labour Organization estimates at 61%<\/a> for 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notebook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n