ActionSA concerned as worsening unemployment stats reveal 42.6% of South Africans are jobless
13 August 2024
ActionSA expresses concern following Statistics SA’s announcement that the official unemployment rate increased from 32.9% in the first quarter to 33.5% in the second quarter, with the expanded unemployment rate also rising to 42.6% in the second quarter of 2024.
Worryingly, Stats SA’s figures reveal that an estimated 8.4 million South Africans are now unemployed, a dramatic increase from 5.2 million a decade ago. Indicative of an economy that has become stagnant and rudderless, more than three-quarters of the 8.4 million unemployed have been without a job for over a year.
The situation is even more dire for young South Africans, with youth unemployment rising from 59.7% in Q1 to 60.8% in Q2 of 2024. Consequently, among jobseekers aged 15-24 who are not enrolled in educational institutions, only four out of every ten have employment.
A month ago, ActionSA raised the alarm at the worsening unemployment crisis in South Africa, as evidenced by the quarter-on-quarter decrease in employment of 67,000 jobs, or -0.6%, from 10,731,000 in December 2023 to 10,664,000 in March 2024.