In late February, Stats SA released its Quarterly Labour Force Survey which reported the highest official unemployment rate since the survey began in 2008, at 32%. “What is more problematic [than 32% unemployment] is that youth unemployment is double that: 15- to-24-year-olds at 63%, and 25-to-34-year-olds at 41%,” Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator CEO, Maryana Iskander, told Fin24 this week.

“It is really commendable that the government has been able to make more resources available […] but spending more money is not going to solve the problem; what is necessary is to figure out what is effective and scaling up what works and taking a long and serious look at the interventions that aren’t working,” she said.

Source: The full article was written by Marelise van der Merwe and is available at https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/south-africa/burning-fiscus-we-need-more-than-a-vaccine-will-sa-get-a-shot-in-the-arm-for-its-job-loss-epidemic-20210303. This article requires sign in and subscription to access. 
Image credit: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters. Soweto, South Africa, June 24, 2020. 

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