22 July 2022
Last update on Friday, July 22, 2022 At 7:00 AM
Plagued by a very high unemployment rate for several years, South Africa has seen its socio-economic situation deteriorate with the arrival of covid-19. During the first quarter of 2022, the country's unemployment rate reached 34.5%.
South Africa hopes to create 2 million jobs by 2024. South African Labor Minister Thulas Nxesi said in an interview with Bloomberg News Agency. .
According to the official, the objective is to reverse the curve of national unemployment, which has been climbing steadily for several years. In the first quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate had thus reached 34.5%, the third highest recorded by the country since 2008, although it was down quarter on quarter.
If the official did not detail the plan to achieve this objective, it should be noted that the announcement comes as South Africa tries to recover from an economic crisis for several years, and which is is accelerated with covid-19.
After sluggish growth between 2015 and 2019, the country’s GDP collapsed by 6.4% in 2020, according to IMF figures. At the end of 2020, at the height of the health crisis, the World Bank indicates that the number of people employed had fallen by at least 1.5 million while the wages of those who kept their jobs fell by around 10%. 15% on average.
Two years before the general elections, many observers believe that the economic crisis and that of the social sector will be the main themes on which the President of the Republic, Cyril Ramaphosa will be assessed.
Note that to raise the slope, the authorities have announced several economic recovery plans. Among these is a ‘Social Employment Fund’ announced last June to create ‘50,000 new job opportunities in the first phase, before expanding further in subsequent phases’.
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