Quarter of unemployed without work for more than five years
One-quarter of unemployed people had been seeking work for more than five years and a further 40% had been out of work for at least a year, the latest ‘South African Survey’, released by the South African Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR) on Wednesday, revealed.
The SAIRR said that, according to data from Statistics South Africa, a total of 4.5-million people were classified as officially unemployed as they were available, wanted to work and had actively been looking for a job.
“We have very high long-term unemployment levels according to the international definition – the average among countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is 32% of total unemployment, which is far lower than the 68% observed in South Africa,” explained SAIRR researcher Lucy Holborn.
She added that the likelihood of finding work after being out of the workplace for longer than five years was slim in a market in need of experienced and skilled labour, but saturated with less skilled and unskilled workers.
“In addition, these figures do not take into account those who would like to work but have stopped actively looking for employment, as they have given up hope of finding a job,” Holborn said.
According to this expanded definition of unemployment, an additional 3.2-million people were without jobs.
Holborn said this suggested that there may be a staggeringly large number of people who were considered unemployable.
“Therefore, any solution to our unemployment problem will need to address educational and skills inadequacies to provide a better match between what is required by the labour market and the pool of people supplying it,” she noted.
In the meantime, relaxing labour regulation to reduce the cost and risk of hiring people could help to dent levels of unemployment that had been persistently high for over a decade, Holborn suggested.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
The SAIMM started as a learned society in 1894 after the invention of the cyanide process that saved the South African gold mining industry of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
ECG provides specialised electrical engineering services to the Mining, Utilities, Materials Handling and Industrial industries, with extensive and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
