The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the 2nd Quarter 2019 (Q2) states that South Africa's unemployment rate has increased to
29%. This is up by 1.4 percentage points from 27,6% in the 1st Quarter 2019. This is the
highest unemployment rate since 2008.
455 000 more South Africans are unemployed while a mere 21 000 South Africans found employment in Q2. The total number of unemployed people is now at 6,7 million.
The highest employment losses were recorded in these sectors:
In terms of provinces,
Gauteng and the North-West experienced the highest number of employment losses.
There are approximately 20,4 million young (aged between 15 and 34) people in South Africa at present. Around 40,3% of these people are not employed and/or not engaged in education and training. In other words, a substantial portion of our youth population is either uneducated, unemployed or unemployable.
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