Latest data from Stats SA suggests that SA has not experienced a socioeconomic change that has been identified in other countries, and most pronounced in the US. That is: adult children returning home to stay with their parents in times of economic and other shocks. The returning young adults are known in the US as the “boomerang kids”.
The growth in the number of households in SA, which has since 2002 far outpaced the growth in population, suggests that despite several socioeconomic shocks, adult children aren’t going back home in times of crisis. That may have to do with SA’s own idiosyncratic conditions.
The number of households in SA has been growing by an average of 3.3% a year since 2002, from just more than 11-million to more than 19-million in 2023. This has been a far faster pace than population growth, which has averaged 1.7% a year since 2002.
Stats SA defines a household as an individual or individuals who live together under the same roof and share food or money. “The definition is much more restrictive than the concept of a family, which usually refers to individuals who are related by blood and who may live very far apart.”
The latest Stats SA data shows that the growth in households continues. The 2023 general household survey released last week shows average annual household growth since 2002 almost at double the rate of population growth.
In Gauteng — which still holds the top spot as the leading economic hub — the number of households has more than doubled since 2002 to almost 5.8-million, the biggest household population by far. Yet, of all provinces, Gauteng had the lowest number of extended households at 25%. An extended household has a nuclear core (couple or a single parent, living with children) combined with other family members such as parents or siblings.
Household growth has its own economic dynamics. At some point during the 22 years, household growth was identified by some economists as the biggest driver of a spike in sales of household goods, especially in the period before 2008. This makes sense because when people set up on their own, they need furniture and other household goods.
But there is a downside. For municipalities, household growth means more points for the delivery of public services such as water, electricity and the collection of waste. Keeping pace with household growth can stretch municipal resources.
SA’s household growth defies the trend elsewhere, and that may have to do with SA’s peculiar circumstances. In other countries, socioeconomic shocks often affect the composition of households.
Socioeconomic shocks
SA has had two major socioeconomic shocks since 2008: the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Both hit jobs hard, and it took a couple of years to recover to levels before each crisis. This doesn’t appear to have affected the pace of household growth.
In the US, for example, the two shocks had adult children moving back home. The global financial crisis, for example, left a far deeper crater on the US economy than SA’s.
The pandemic increased the trend of adult children living with their parents, according to a 2022 Wall Street Journal article. In 2021, almost a third of 18-34 year olds were living with their parents, up from 27% in 2005, it said, quoting US census data.
“For parents, this often means shelving retirement plans and new worries about their child’s emotional and mental health, as well as their grandchildren’s wellbeing. They have to figure out how to be supportive but not enabling and set boundaries and expectations,” the publication reported.
In a 2019 research note, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, said that the share of young adults living with their parents had increased sharply and remained elevated since the global financial crisis.
“Many young adults likely moved back in with their parents, or never left home in the first place, because they could not find a job paying enough money to allow them to live alone. But the increased rate of living at home has persisted even as per capita income has recovered and the employment rate among young adults has returned to pre-recession levels.”
Moving back with parents isn’t an option for most young South Africans, especially Africans, who bear a disproportionate burden of unemployment. That’s partly because of migration. Young people must leave home to where they think job prospects are better — and that’s often very far from where their parents live.
Gauteng has historically been the place to try one’s job luck. But even if SA’s young adults could move back home, their parents won’t have much financial cushion to offer. That’s the tragedy of this country.
• Sikhakhane, a former spokesperson for the finance minister, National Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, is editor of The Conversation Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
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