While SA was reeling from the leadership power tussle between former president Jacob Zuma and his political masters on the one hand, and the current leadership of the governing ANC on the other, Statistics SA added salt to the wound when it released the Labour Force Survey results for the fourth quarter of 2017. Although the survey showed a decline in the overall unemployment rate by one percentage point to 26.7%, it still illustrates that employment prospects for young people remain dire. The overall unemployment rate of those aged 15 to 24 is 51.1%; for those aged 25 to 34 it is 33.4%. Notably, although the percentage of African males from 15 to 24 years who were not in education, employment or training declined by 1.4%, and for black females by 0.5% year on year, black youths of both sexes remain far more likely to be out of work than their white counterparts. This sad state of affairs is in line with the views shared by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his state of the nation ad...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.