South Africa has a deteriorating unemployment rate that has not shown any significant gains since democracy was achieved in 1994.
According to Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), unemployment increased from 22% in 1994 to 25% in 2014; and has now further plunged to 27.2% in the second quarter of 2018.
The country’s youth however bears the brunt of these ailing unemployment figures and continues to remain vulnerable in the labour market.
Figures further provided by Stats SA state that the rate of unemployment among the youth (15-34) stood at 38.2% in the first quarter of 2018.
Some have also become discouraged with the labour market and are not building on their skills base through education and training.
Stimulus package a possible solution to curb unemployment
With the hopes of curbing youth unemployment, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the introduction of a stimulus package that also aims to support entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses as well as create job opportunities for women.
The stimulus package will also be under sharp focus on Wednesday as Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivers his maiden Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.
The graph below provides a brief overview of South Africa’s youth unemployment rate:
