South Africa’s official unemployment rate has ballooned to a whopping 29 percent, according to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
This is the worst rate since 2008, which was at the height of the global economic crisis.
It’s also not too far off from the worst rate recorded in South Africa – 29.3 percent recorded in March 2003.
Risenga Maluleke, South Africa’s Statistician-General, released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey on Tuesday morning.
The unemployment rate went up by 1.4 percent in 2019’s second quarter compared to the first quarter’s 27.6 percent.
The unemployment rate is higher among women at 31.3 percent, while the expanded unemployment rate rose to 38.5 percent.
21,000 more people got jobs in 2019’s second quarter compared to the first quarter.
These figures are likely to pile pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa, whose message of the New Dawn brought hope throughout the country.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Deputy President Floyd Shivambu was quick to criticise “the New Dawn and its allies, the white capitalist establishment.”