Youth Unemployment In South Africa: A Catastrophe

ANN BERNSTEIN|

“If you can’t solve the problem of getting young people into work, it may not matter what other problems you do solve.”| Paul Romer, Nobel Economics Laureate

The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) statistics confirm a shocking reality: three out of every four South Africans (74.7%) between the ages of 15 and 24 who want a job cannot find one. For those between the ages of 25 and 34, things are somewhat better, yet still the worst they have ever been: more than half (51.4%) of them are unemployed.

Tackling this crisis by accelerating labour-intensive growth has to be the country’s top priority.

Unless young people become part of the employed workforce in much larger numbers soon, political leaders will become increasingly dysfunctional, human potential will be wasted and hopes of creating a stabler, more inclusive and prosperous country will remain mere pipe dreams.

South Africa’s