How will millions get job opportunities amid power crisis? Reactions to unemployment stats

The power crisis needs to be resolved if the country hopes to stop increasing unemployment. 

These were the sentiments of politicians and citizens after Stats SA released its latest unemployment report on Tuesday.

According to the document, joblessness increased from 32.7% in 2022 to 32.9% in the first quarter of 2023, representing 7.9-million people without work.

About 44.7% thereof were people aged between 15 and 34 who were not in school, employment or training. 

Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi said the stats, particularly those regarding young people, painted a frightening picture of the country's future. 

“[They] correlate with the fact that nearly half of all children who start school never complete it. They fall into a dark hole where no one sees or hears them as the government’s interventions bear little relation to the actual conditions of the people of South Africa,” he said. 

Zibi blamed corruption and wasteful expenditure in municipalities for increasing unemployment.  

“It is also difficult to see how employment opportunities will emerge when there is no electricity and most municipalities, which host all businesses, big and small, are corrupt and poorly administered,” he said. 

Good general secretary Brett Herron described the stats as a reminder of South Africans trapped in poverty. 

“SA needs an economy that can generate jobs, but in the meantime, it needs a complete overhaul of its social security system, starting with the introduction of measures such as a basic income grant,” he said. 

While opposition parties were unhappy with the figures, the government welcomed 258,000 people being employed in the first quarter of the year. 

“This indicates that we are heading in the right direction, even though a lot still needs to be done.

“Additionally, we cannot be blind to the fact that youth unemployment remains a challenge. However, we must also acknowledge the slight increase. The increase in the number of employed people gives us grounds for cautious hope,” minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said. 

This is how people reacted on social media:

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