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Looking at the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), what is striking is how many people stated that they have been looking for work for periods well over 12 months. In a large number of cases people reported that they have been looking for work for longer than five years.
We take a look at the numbers below, and we break it down per province in order to determine of someone in a certain province is more likely to find a job faster than someone else in another province. Note the data is based on QLFS data and they use a rotating panel (I.e a household is surveyd for three quarters in a row and then replaced with another household. The sample is set up in such a way so as to reduce respondent burden. The new household's surveyd will have similar characteristics to the one no longer surveyd. In this way the overall QLFS survey remains representative of South Africa as a whole) |
Total Country
The bar chart below shows the number of people seeking employment in various groups for three different time periods(First quarter 2014: March 2014, First quarter 2015 :March 2015 and First quarter 2016: March 2016) As can be seen from the graph the total number of people actively seeking employment has increased steadily from March 2014's 5.072 million people to March 2016's 5.703 million people. The increase in the number of people actively seeking employment is due to retrenchments and businesses cutting back, but also an increasing population and more and more people entering the labour market after leaving school and universities.
Provincial Breakdown
While the above graphics provides insights into the number of people actively seeking employment and its broken down per province, below we will take a look at the percentage of people falling into the various groups per province in order to determine in which province's people have been actively seeking employment the longest. We will start off with South Africa's economic hub, Gauteng.
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GautengGauteng showed a sharp increase in the number of people stating they have been looking for work for more than 5 years. Up from 29.8% in March 2015 to 38.7% in March 2016.
In addition to this a sharp decline was seen in percentage of people stating they have been looking for work for less than 3 months. Down from 15.6% in March 2015 to 9.2% in March 2016. Reflecting the harsh job market in South Africa's biggest employing province. Compounding Gauteng's problems is the fact that there are roughly 440 000 more job seekers in March 2016 than compared to March 2014. |
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Western Cape
In Western Cape the biggest percentage of job seekers have been looking for work between 1 and 3 years, with 23.6% of job seekers in March 2016 falling into this category.
There has been a steady rise in percentage of job seekers falling into the category of seeking work for the last 3-6months . |
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Eastern Cape
Similar to Gauteng, Eastern Cape showed a sharp increase in the number of people stating they have been looking for work for more than 5 years. Up from 23.1% in March 2014 to 24.2% in March 2015 to 27.7% in March 2016.
Eastern Cape has roughly 13 000 less jobseekers in March 2016 when compared to March 2014. |
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Northern Cape
Northern Cape showed a sharp decline in the percentage of job seekers that has been looking for work for longer than 5 years. With the percentage dropping from 22.7% in March 2014 to 20.2% in March 2015 to 12.1% in March 2016
So either employment has picked up or more people in Northern Cape have given up looking for work completely. (Provincial breakdown graph shows roughly 4000 less people seeking employment in March 2016 compared to March 2015). |
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Free State
In similar fashion to the Northern Cape, Free State has shown a sharp decline in the percentage of job seekers that have been looking for work for more than 5 years.
With the percentage dropping from 37.3% in March 2014 to 35.7% in March 2015 to 31.3% in March 2016 So either employment has picked up or more people in Free State have given up looking for work completely. (Provincial breakdown graph shows roughly 20 000 more people seeking employment in March 2016 compared to March 2014). |
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KwaZulu-NatalKwazulu-Natal has seen a steep drop in percentage of job seekers stating they have been looking for work for less than 3 months. Down from 21.8% in March 2015 to 16.6% in March 2016.
In the same breath, the percentage of job seekers stating they have been looking for between 3 and 6 months has increased from 7.7% in March 2015 to 10.7% in March 2016. Reflecting the fact that it is taking longer to get employed. KwaZulu-Natal has almost 100 000 more jobseekers in March 2016 when compared to March 2014 |
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North West
The largest percentage of North West's job seekers have been looking for employment for more than 5 years, with 29.6% of jobseekers in March 2016 stating they have been looking for more than 5 years.
Similarly 28.1% stated they have been looking for more than 5 years in both March 2014 and March 2015. |
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MpumalangaMpumalanga has seen a sharp decline in the number of jobseekers stating they have been looking for employment for more than 5 years. Down from 35.3% in March 2014 to 27.8% in March 2015 and 22.6% in March 2016.
So either employment has picked up or more people in Mpumalanga have given up looking for work completely. (Provincial breakdown graph shows roughly 800 less people seeking employment in March 2016 compared to March 2014). |
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LimpopoLimpopo has shown a sharp increase in the percentage of jobseekers stating they have been looking for work for more than 5 years. With it increasing from 10.1% in March 2014 to 14.4% in March 2015 to 17.4% in March 2016.
Limpopo has roughly 50 000 more jobseekers in March 2016 compared to March 2014. |
In total there are roughly 700 000 more jobseekers in quarter one of 2016 (March 2016) than compared to quarter one of 2014 (March 2014). These jobseekers include retrenched staff as well as new jobseekers entering the labour market (school children leaving school and varsity students finishing their studies and entering the job market).
What is clear from the above is that there is a general trend that shows that the amount of time spent seeking employment is increasing with the short job seeking period's dropping and the longer job seeking terms increasing.
Worrying times for the large masses of school and university students looking to enter the job market
What is clear from the above is that there is a general trend that shows that the amount of time spent seeking employment is increasing with the short job seeking period's dropping and the longer job seeking terms increasing.
Worrying times for the large masses of school and university students looking to enter the job market