Economist Professor Jannie Rossouw has attributed the latest rise in South Africa’s unemployment rate to sluggish economic growth, saying the country’s growth is not strong enough to absorb enough labour.
Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that the unemployment rate rose to 33.7% in the third quarter, up from 33.6% in the previous quarter.
Rossouw says improving service delivery in municipalities across the country will help address the unemployment crisis.
He says, “We need functioning municipalities. We need municipalities that can deliver basic services like clean water, uninterrupted electricity, streets without potholes, and working robots. This will create an environment at a local level where businesses will be interested in investing. In such an environment that’s conducive to investment, we will see employment of people.”