It was important for all eligible people in South Africa to vaccinate at the earliest chance so as to allow the economy to fully open so that it can start to arrest the runaway train of unemployment.

This is the view of the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi in response to the latest Stats SA Q2 Quarterly Labour Force Survey which shows a continued trend of jobs-shedding with figures showing that the official unemployment rate increased by 1.8 percentage points to 34.4% in the second quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2021 at 32.6%.

“The increase in the official unemployment rate was relatively expected because of the slow economic growth observed in the first quarter of 2021 and the decline in investment rate in the country.

“It should also be noted that the economy is has also been severely affected by the necessary lockdown restrictions that have mostly affected non-essentials activities because of the pandemic. It is for this reason that we urge all the people in South Africa to make themselves available for vaccination so that the lockdown could be lifted once we reach the necessary herd immunity.  We believe that this is one of the ways that this country can arrest the shedding of jobs.

“However, the country stands on “solid ground” with various national infrastructure projects and the Presidential Employment stimulus packages. All these forms part of the Economic Reconstruction Plan that is currently in place. It will also require all social partners to work together and preserve the country economic development prospects that will reduce inequalities and poverty in the long-run,” said Minister Nxesi.

According to Statistics South Africa, an additional 587 000 individuals have reported to be unemployed between quarter one and two of 2021. However, the increase was more than 3.5 million individuals when compared to a year ago (April 2020).

This increase signifies the most vulnerable in our society the young people (15-34 years) and African women with insufficient skills could not easily be absorbed into sustainable decent employment. For example, out of 7 826 000 unemployed in June 2021, the youth (15-34) constituted almost 60% or 4 677 000 of the unemployed individuals. The unemployment rate among black African women was 41% during this period compared to 8.2% among white women, 22.4% among Indian/Asian women and 29.9% among coloured women.

“The recent figures of vaccination show that the youth is coming out in big numbers to be inoculated. The youth is again leading from the front in securing their future with this commitment because ultimately, this will be a difference to whether the economy kickstarts or not. We appreciate their commitment and resolve,” said Minister Nxesi.

Figures show that there were about 10.2 million of youth (15-24 years) in quarter two of 2021, of which 33% were not in employment, education or training (NEET). In this category, more females than males were counted over the years.

The country lost 54 000 jobs on quarter-to-quarter changes and gained 793 000 year-to-year changes. The quarterly variation in employment lost was mostly observed in the Finance and the community industries with 278 000 and 166 000 respectively.  However, the construction (156 000), the community (156 000) and the Private households industries (189 000) were the engines of job creation.

“Given the fact that the economy has taken a hit over the last few years and has not recovered to be able to absorb young people in employment, our hope lies on the public employment and our infrastructure build program to provide employment opportunities and to keep the young people engaged. As government, we are working closer with our social partners to ensure that the economy reconstruction and recovery plan is being implemented as a matter of urgency. As government, we are optimistic that we will arrest this challenge of unemployment,” said Minister Nxesi.

Source: Government of South Africa