A new report by Stats SA paints a grim picture of joblessness among SA’s youth population, with unemployment increasing significantly over the past decade despite improvements in university attendance.
The percentage of young people actively seeking work but unable to find a job rose from 36.8% in 2014 to 45.5% in 2024, while the number of young people not in employment, education or training increased by five percentage points.
These figures illustrate the failure of SA’s policy interventions aimed at addressing youth unemployment, such as the National Development Plan, with joblessness not only persisting but worsening over the past decade.
This is despite gradual improvements in both high school and university attendance, with school attendance rising by 0.5 percentage points and higher education enrolment climbing by 1.3 percentage points.
Despite the slight improvements in high school attendance, data from all nine provinces showed that most young people do not have a matric. Addressing this deeply entrenched gap is vital in providing SA youth with the workforce skills and economic development they need, reads the report.
While increased university attendance provides some encouragement, the effect on youth unemployment is limited given the disparities in educational outcomes across race groups. Indian/Asian and white youth recorded the highest university participation rates at 45.7% and 31.1%.
Notably, while university attendance has grown, young people have shifted away from technical and vocational education and training colleges, with enrolment dropping from 6.9% to 6.1%. Adult participation in these colleges also declined slightly.
Employment scarcity is also a pressing concern at the household level, with a growing number of youths living without an employed adult. The percentage of young males in these households rose by two percentage points and by one percentage point for females.
As joblessness rises, hunger has also intensified among the young population. The percentage of young people in food insecure homes increased by 2.3 percentage points between 2014 and 2023.
On top of job scarcity, the data shows young people between the ages of 16 and 34 are more likely to be the victims of crime, including assault, robbery and property theft.
In line with this, SA’s youth have become increasingly concerned about their safety over the past 10 years. According to Stats SA, the share of youth that felt safe during the day declined by 1.8 percentage points between 2018 and last year.
According to Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey released earlier this month, SA’s official unemployment rate fell by 0.2 of a percentage point to 31.9% in the fourth quarter of 2024 from the previous three-month period; 132,000 jobs were created.
However, the highest unemployment rates of 59.6% and 39.4% were experienced by young people aged 15-24 and 25-34, respectively.
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