DUMA GQUBULE: SA still has no plan to address unemployment
SA has the highest unemployment rate in the world, according to the World Bank. Djibouti is in second position. We also have the second-highest youth unemployment rate in the world after Djibouti.
Mass unemployment is an opportunity cost — the lost GDP that could have been produced if the jobless millions were working. Assuming the unemployed would have the same GDP per worker as the employed, at a 5% unemployment rate SA would have had a R10.1-trillion economy in 2022 — two thirds higher than the actual figure of R6.6-trillion. The R3.5-trillion difference between the two numbers — that lost GDP — is the cost of mass unemployment. ..
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