Free State records highest unemployment rate in South Africa at 35.5%

1 June 2017

During the first three months of 2017 just over 19 000 more people in the Free State lost their jobs as per STATS SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the First Quarter 2017, released this afternoon. This comes after more than 68 000 people in the province already lost their jobs last year.

The Free State now records the highest official unemployment rate in the country at 35.5%, while the real unemployment rate is at 41.7% (expanded definition). The total Free State labour force is recorded at 1,188 million, out of these 421 000 individuals are unable to find work, while 88 000 persons have given up looking for a job altogether.

The largest sectoral job losses were recorded in Trade with 18 000 while 7 000 were recorded from private households which employ domestic workers and gardeners. Both these sectors indicate that the Free State middle-class finds itself under severe financial strain. Middle-class families have increasingly less expendable income at their disposal to spend and to employ persons.

In short, people in the Free State are becoming poorer, and the provincial economy is shrinking very fast, excluding more and more people from accessing economic opportunities.

This bleak economic outlook is as a direct result of the ANC government’s disastrous management of the economy. The Free State under the premiership of Ace Magashule continues to regress as more people find themselves unemployed. The ANC does not have the policies or the political will to implement programmes that will attract investment and create jobs, instead it applies resources meant to improve the lives of the people, to line the pockets of cadres and cronies like the Guptas.

The DA is the only party in South Africa with the economic policies that will create jobs. In the Western Cape where the DA governs, during the first quarter 2017, more than 67 000 new jobs were created. The DA governed Western Cape now records the lowest official unemployment rate in the country at 21.5%. Where the DA governs, we improve the lives of people through good and effective governance.

The answer is simple. If people want jobs, they will have to vote DA.

Issued by Roy Jankielsohn, Leader of the Official Opposition, 1 June 2017