All eyes will be on Statistics South Africa when it announces the latest job figures on Tuesday. This as the country’s unemployment rate hit a new record high in the second quarter.
In the three months to June this year, the unemployment rate – which is a measure of the number of people who are out there looking for jobs – reached a new record high of 34.4%. That was largely attributed to the effects of COVID- 19 restrictions on the economy.
But Economics Professor at Wits Business School Jannie Rossouw believes that the problem is much deeper than that. Rossouw says he doesn’t expect the unemployment rate for the third quarter to be any better. That’s despite National Treasury predicting a robust 5.1% economic growth rate for the whole of this year.
In his maiden Medium Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament earlier this month, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the government is serious about implementing economic reforms needed to achieve higher levels of growth and job creation.
He said the process of bringing in more private sector players in electricity generation is already being fast-tracked.
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