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South Africa's unemployment rate per province for 2nd quarter 2018
Date: 31 July 2018 Category: Economics |
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We take a look at the latest unemployment numbers for South Africa as published for 2nd quarter of 2018 by Statistics South Africa.
And sadly for South Africans the story it tells is not a good one. The unemployment rate of South Africa remains persistently high and unsustainable levels of over 27% |
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Q2:2018 unemployment for South Africa at 27.2%
Currently South Africa's unemployment rate is sitting at 27.2%. Basically 1 out of every 4 people looking for a job cannot find one in South Africa. so to those who have a job and constantly complain about their jobs, be grateful that you actually have one. As there are a lot of South Africans out there who would gladly swap places with you and take your job instead of not having one at all. The graphic below shows the unemployment rate per province for the 2nd quarter of 2018 as well as the overall average for South Africa.
The summary below ranks South Africa's provincial unemployment from highest to lowest for the 2nd quarter of 2018:
- Free State: 34.4%
- Eastern Cape: 34.2%
- Mpumalanga: 33.2%
- Gauteng: 29.7%
- Northern Cape: 28.9%
- South Africa: 27.2%
- North West: 26.1%
- KwaZulu-Natal: 21.8%
- Western Cape: 20.7%
- Limpopo: 19.3%
The graphic below shows the official unemployment rate of South Africa per quarter since the start of 2014. And the last 10 quarters of two and a half years, the unemployment rate has been above the average level of unemployment since the start of 2014. It just shows how South Africa's poor economic growth is struggling to address the massive unemployment problem in South Africa.
Not only is the unemployment rate near record highs and government policies and economic growth seems helpless to stop or reverse the unemployment trend, the problem is every single year the labour market is flooded with thousands of new job seekers as they leave school or varsity or tertiary studies and start looking for a job.
The massive unemployment problem is the single biggest issue facing the government and South Africa's economy.
The massive unemployment problem is the single biggest issue facing the government and South Africa's economy.