Investment only way out of unemployment crisis, warns economist
Efficient Group economist Dr Francois Stofberg says South Africa’s unemployment crisis should no signs of abating anytime soon.
On Tuesday, Stats SA released the unemployment figures for the fourth quarter of 2021.
It once again painted a bleak picture for the country’s workforce.
South Africa’s official unemployment figure stands at 35.3%, while the expanded definition of unemployment stands at 46.2%.
This is the highest rate ever recorded.
Stofberg says unemployment will remain high unless the country is able to attract more investors.
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“Well, unfortunately South Africa will struggle with unemployment for a while longer. The fact is that our economy is simply not growing fast enough that can create the type of environments where jobs can be created.
“In short, if you have an economy that is growing at 1.8% and your population is growing at 2%, there is a bit of a gap and that is one way of understanding it.
“We saw with the GDP that there is still an investment strike where businesses just don’t feel comfortable with expanding, growing, and doing businesses in South Africa. Unfortunately, until we don’t reach that point, we will continue to see high unemployment rate in South Africa.”
