Cape Town - Six out of 10 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed, along with four out of every 10 between the ages of 25 and 35.
These shocking statistics were revealed by Statistics South Africa, which showed that of the more than 10 million young people aged 15 to 24, only 2.5 million are in the labour force, either employed or unemployed.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said the statistics were based on the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2022, which showed the unemployment rate was 63.9% for those aged 15 to 24 and 42.1% for those aged 25 to 34. The current official national rate is 34.5%.
Statistically, South Africa’s working-age population is made up of all people aged 15 to 64.
Of the country’s 7.9 million unemployed people in the first quarter of 2022, as many as 50.1% had education levels below matric.
For this reason, the Municipal Workers Union’s Back To Work Campaign is set to march to the Cape Town Civic Centre tomorrow.
SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) regional secretary Mike Khumalo said: “It is totally unacceptable that 28 years into our democracy, South Africa is struggling with the highest youth unemployment rate, with over 7.9 million people struggling to find sustainable employment.”
On the upside, those with a post-matric qualification are more likely to find a job.
Unemployed matrics stood at 40% and only 2.8% of unemployed people were graduates, while 6.7% had other tertiary qualifications as their highest level of education.
The statistical data showed that year-on-year, the unemployment rate among young graduates aged 15 to 24 declined from 40.3% to 32.6%, while it increased by 6.9 percentage points to 22.4% for those aged 25 to 34 years in the first quarter of the year.
Maluleke said the largest share, 7.7 million or 75.1% of this group of young people, are those that are out of the labour force or inactive.
Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) general secretary Riefdah Ajam said that while Setas contributed significantly toward skills development of thousands of youths, many could not find gainful employment and that Fedusa was now questioning the effectiveness of these programmes.
She said among Fedusa’s proposals to support youth finding employment were: free access to public transport for young job workers; free data allocation to unemployed youth to seek jobs and for employers to increase the uptake on the Youth Employment Incentives Scheme (Yes).
Yershen Pillay, CEO of Chieta, the chemical industries Seta, said entrepreneurial skills development must drive job creation for South African youth.
Yesterday in Bonteheuwel, Premier Alan Winde met with 25 young women who are completing a community and skills development programme through a partnership between the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) and the office of ward Councillor Angus McKenzie.
Winde said the province had allocated R25.7 billion towards youth development for the 2022/23 financial year to empower young people with the necessary skills to thrive.
The business training program provides young people with an opportunity to learn key business skills which have the potential to raise their employability.
A participant in the WPDI business skills training programme Porche Fortuin said: “The training that WPDI has provided to us, females, has empowered my mind by knowing the available business opportunities.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za