The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa confirms that youth unemployment remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time, with more than one in two young South Africans aged 15 and 34 are unemployed. The official unemployment rate for this age group has risen from 36.9% in Q1:2015 to 46.1% in Q1:2025, an alarming trend that underscores systemic failure.
Young people aged 15-34 make up just over half (50.2%) of South Africa’s working-age population. While nearly 13 million youth are in the labour force, over 7 million remain unemployed. Youth continue to face the highest barriers to entering the job market, with their unemployment rate consistently outpacing that of older adults over the past decade. “This is deeply concerning. South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world, and research shows that unemployment is the single biggest driver of both poverty and inequality” says Clotilde Angelucci, Acting Project Lead at Youth Capital. “Unemployment is structural and our solutions need to speak and solve for this; with our economic rate, South Africa is not able to create opportunities at the rate young people need” adds Angelucci
The figures also show a rise in the number of young people aged 15-34 who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET). Over four in every ten young people fall into this category. Young women, in particular, face a “double burden” as existing gender gaps continue to limit their access to jobs and skills development.
Rural youth hit hardest
The report highlights geographic disparities, with youth unemployment in the North West and the Eastern Cape higher that the national average. The participation rate in the economy here signals that young people struggle to find opportunities in the area. ‘Research shows how public employment programmes have the ability to energise local economies; the Basic Education Employment Initiative, for example, is the largest public employment programme for young people, who worked in public schools across the country as general assistants and teacher assistants. While SALDRU research confirms that economic benefits spill over to the community, the national budgets for these programmes have declined over time’, add Angelucci.
Education matters, but it’s not enough
Education remains a key factor in determining employment outcomes. In Q1:2025, unemployment among those without a matric certificate rose to 39.0%, while it was significantly lower among university graduates at 11.7%. While higher education clearly improves employability, even graduates are feeling the strain of the crisis, as graduate unemployment increased by 3 percentage points since the previous quarter. ‘This shows that while higher education offers some protection in a difficult labour market, it is not a silver bullet’, adds Angelucci.
Unemployment rates among those with matric or lower qualifications continue to exceed the national average, pointing to the urgent need for improved education quality and better alignment between training and the labour market.
The first job remains out of reach for most youth
Discouragement is another worrying trend. In Q1:2025, 1.9 million young people were classified as discouraged work-seekers, compared to 1.5 million adults aged 35-64. For many youth, especially those without prior work experience, the job market feels like a closed door.
Stats SA reported that among the 4.8 million unemployed youth, over half have never had a job. This points to a vicious cycle: young people can’t get hired without experience, and they can’t gain experience without getting hired. ‘We know that young people’s engagement with the economy is not linear; getting work experience early can positively impact income mobility, so we need to focus on stepping stones in a young person’s journey. The longer young people are unemployed, the more difficult job-seeking becomes; not only because they become increasingly discouraged, but also because employers view them as riskier hires. By the time young people turn 24, 60% of them will have never had a job before, despite spending years looking.
Unemployment impacts entire households and communities; it intensifies social challenges in neighbourhoods and cities; it crumbles social cohesion and individual hopes. Knock-on impacts on mental health are another challenge, seldom acknowledged by society more broadly. UNICEF South Africa reported that around six in 10 youth felt they needed mental health support in 2023.
Where are the jobs?
In Q1:2025, the Trade industry (including retail, wholesale, and hospitality) remained the largest youth employer, accounting for 24.5% of employed youth. It was followed by community and social services, finance and manufacturing. These figures show that young people are largely concentrated in low-skilled or service-based job, elementary occupations, sales and service, clerical roles and craft and related trades – roles that often offer limited job security, income, and opportunities for growth.
Now is the time for bold action
Unemployment in South Africa is structural, and tackling unemployment requires a shift in macro-economic policy, supported by complementary interventions implemented to reach the same goal.
To navigate economic pathways, young people need:
#1 a meaningful first work experience
#2 skills for the for the world of work
#3 accessible entry points into the labour market.
But for these points to be leveraged, we need an economy that invests in young people. ‘Budget 3.0 can and should provide the macroeconomic shift that is needed to boost our economy, and young people’ adds Angelucci.
