PERSISTENTLY high unemployment in South Africa is a structural problem that the central bank doesn’t have the tools to address and should be dealt with by changing the nation’s education policy, South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said.
At 32.9%, South Africa’s official unemployment rate is the third highest on a list of 82 countries and the eurozone monitored by Bloomberg.
It has exceeded 20% for at least two decades largely due to sluggish economic growth, and strict labour laws and bureaucratic hurdles that make it difficult for local companies to hire additional workers.
“Unemployment in this country is structural,” Kganyago said in an interview with broadcaster CNBC Africa in Davos on Tuesday.
Policymakers have “got to be alive to the fact” that South Africa’s education system isn’t equipping learners with the skills needed in a modern era, he said.
The jobless rate for people aged between 15 and 24, which includes school
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