Unemployment has reached a record high in SA. At the end of the first quarter of 2020, the official unemployment rate was 30.1%. While it did decline to 23.3% in the second quarter, this was due to the increase in the expanded unemployment rate, which rose by 2.3 percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2020.

This was due to the significant increase in the number of people who were available for work but who were no longer actively seeking it. In terms of the expanded definition of unemployment, the rate soared from 39.7% to 42%. Of particular concern is the extreme unemployment among SA’s youth. Unemployment in the 15-24 age group stood at 55.97% for 2020. ..

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