Calls to unlock jobs as SA’s unemployment crisis deepens

SOUTH Africa faces the world’s most severe and persistent unemployment crisis, with more than 12 million people actively seeking work, according to a new report by the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) released on Tuesday.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

The report, titled “South Africa's Unemployment Catastrophe: A Call for Urgent Action,’ paints a stark picture of an economy that has failed to generate sufficient jobs for nearly two decades.

CDE executive director Ann Bernstein said the figures reflect a long-term structural failure.

“For 17 years, 1 000 people have joined the unemployment queue every day. Over nearly two decades, South Africa's labour force grew by 42 per cent, while total employment increased by barely 15%. The result: millions more work-seekers chasing far too few opportunities,” she said. This comes as the latest data from Statistics South Africa indicated that South Africa's official unemployment rate has risen to 33.2% in the second quarter of 2025, up from 32.9% in the previous quarter.

Bernstein said the report identifies a range of “major failures” that have choked growth and stifled job creation — including the collapse of State-Owned Enterprises like Eskom and Transnet, a deepening fiscal crisis, widespread corruption, municipal dysfunction, and flawed economic transformation and industrial policies.

She said that each of these failures on its own would have slowed growth.

“Together, they have collapsed growth to little more than zero. When an economy doesn't grow, nor does the number of jobs. Economic growth is by far the most potent lever for reducing unemployment,” Bernstein said.