Young SA adults are moving back in with their parents as they weather the financial storm brought on by the Covid-19 lockdown, according to a recent survey.
A report released by online classifieds community Gumtree has found that 64% of young South Africans between the ages of 21 and 35 have had to move home after the economic impact of Covid-19.
This has also affected the rental market, which has experienced a record low in the second quarter of the year.
HR practitioner Ofentse Legwale, 28, worked for an international cosmetics brand that was affected by fashion retailer Edcon becoming insolvent. He was retrenched in November as the group disintegrated but was brought on as a consultant from February to June.
As lockdown extended and the brand took another hit due to Covid-19, Legwale has been without permanent work for three months and has had to leave Midrand in Johannesburg.
Legwale said his pensioner parents in Brits were worried about him because they had seen what unemployment had done to other young people in their village.
“They see all these youngsters now drinking and doing drugs. There’s not much else there for them.
“I’ve been lucky, I’ve had small jobs here and there with people needing my HR skills. I’ve also started a small butchery at home, which is good because my parents depend on me for groceries and so on.
“I’m also saving up to repair my laptop. It’s crucial to my HR work, but it’s going to cost me R1,000. But I keep positive. I won’t be in this position forever.”
I’m also saving up to repair my laptop. It’s crucial to my HR work but it’s going to cost me R1,000.
Legwale recently learnt a friend who was without a job took her own life.
“It’s been hard. I kept myself busy and was able to get support from friends and family. I also spoke to classmates who studied HR with me and many are in the same position. It helps to know you are not alone.
“I want young people to speak up about how they are feeling. They mustn’t blame themselves. Depression can be overcome if you keep active and social – unfortunately with lockdown it was easy to be antisocial and be overcome with bad thinking.
“I’m thankful that I have a roof over my head and I know things will get better.”
Rory Bezuidenhout, 32, has called his move back home “demotivating”.
In May he sold his shares in an engineering company to his former business partner after a difference in opinion over their financial direction.
Now, after four months without a job, Bezuidenhout is living between friends and his mother and father back home in Cape Town.
“The business was not in a strong financial position, and it was due to the tough economic climate during lockdown.
“My parents were welcoming and they understand that these are extraordinary times, but I do bounce around from their home to friends’ homes.
“I don’t like to stick to one home because I feel like I’m getting in people’s way.”
Bezuidenhout said although he was single many of his friends had married and were starting families and he did not want to be a burden.
“I’m looking for another job. It’s just a difficult age to be in one’s career. I’m not really looking for a junior position, but even those positions are scarce so I will take whatever I can find.”
My parents were welcoming and they understand that these are extraordinary times, but I do bounce around from their home to friends homes.
He said he would even take on a new career, although it would cost him money to start a new business in a job he is unfamiliar with.
“I just try to stay positive. I hope things will improve, but I wonder when. It’s a difficult time for me, but I live in hope.”
Megan Thomas, 22, said her family was already battling before the lockdown as things became more expensive.
She moved back into her parents’ home in Hillcrest with her husband and two small children in May after having her salary as a preschool teacher cut during lockdown.
“We were really battling. It’s so hard to try to raise a family and have to worry about being able to put food on the table because everything is just so expensive.
“I moved back because my salary got a deduction and I couldn’t afford the rent. The landlord ... didn’t even care, she wouldn’t help us out for a few months just to get back on our feet, so we had to move back to my parents.
“I’m hoping that my salary goes up again so I can afford rent and be independent and not rely on my parents any more.”
The Thomas family have added to the 11.39% of rental properties now vacant as reported by the Tenant Profile Network (TPN), a credit bureau that tracks tenant behaviour in SA, on September 10.
The report cited job losses and an increasing supply of rental space relative to demand.
The latest report by the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey in July, found an 18% decline in employment between February and April 2020.
That equates to about three million jobs lost – many of those being young people, who now make up a youth unemployment rate of 59% recorded by Stats SA.
Brand marketing manager at Gumtree SA, Estelle Nagel, said the site had seen a recent increase in rental adverts on the platform.
“We asked our Twitter followers – particularly those between the ages of 21 and 35 – if they or someone they knew had been forced to move home,” she said.
“The results were a resounding yes, with 64% of young South Africans in our target group of 2,400 responding that they had been directly affected by the economic knock-on effects of Covid-19.”
