SAFTU: South Africa's unemployment 'a crisis'

SAFTU: South Africa's unemployment 'a crisis'

A trade union federation's described the slight uptick in the unemployment rate as disastrous.

No jobs sign in SA  unemployement STATS SA
Unsplash/Hennie Stander
The South African Federation of Trade Unions says it's evident that the country's dealing with an unemployment crisis.

With just two weeks to go until the elections, Stats SA says the unemployment rate stands at 32.9% from 32.1%  in the last quarter of 2023.

KZN has the highest number of jobless individuals at 35 000, followed by Gauteng's 26 000.

In this quarter, the number of people looking for work increased by 330 000 to 8.2 million:


READ: Joblessness in SA increases by 0.8%

The union's General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says they are concerned.

"There will be from time to time minor increases in employment, there will be minor increases in the GDP and grows.

"But the reality is that the working age population and the crisis of its unemployment, is a crisis that has stayed with us from the era of colonialism apartheid and the system of capitalism itself.

"Unemployment has worsened from 7.8% if you lose the narrative initiative to 8.2 million."


newswatch new banner 2

More on ECR


Show's Stories