One indication of just how much of a shock SA’s latest unemployment figures are is that the almost 28% unemployment rate is nowhere in ratings agency S&P Global Ratings’s economic forecasts. S&P, which on Friday night affirmed its junk rating on SA’s foreign currency but held back from taking any further negative action for now, projects an unemployment rate of 26.9% in 2017, rising to peak at 27.2% in 2018. But SA is already well past that, according to the latest Labour Force survey from Statistics SA, which shows the unemployment rate rose to 27.7% in the first quarter, from 26.7% a year before. The economy did create jobs over the period — the formal sector alone created 538,000 — but this was not nearly enough to absorb a workforce growing at 1.7% a year, and more people actively looking for jobs. The detailed breakdowns are shocking: only 43% of adults have jobs, and for people in the 15-24 age group, fewer than 13 in 100 are in employment. While many in this age group are stu...
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