The further slight decline in South Africa’s unemployment rate to 31,9% in the third quarter of 2023 is good news, and the fact that total employment is now back to its pre-pandemic levels is welcome.

Prof Raymond Parsons, economist from the North-West University (NWU) Business School, commented on the third quarter 2023 Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) by Stats SA, which was released on 15 November.  He says the economic sectoral leaders in job creation, such as agriculture and social services, outweighed the laggards, such as manufacturing and mining, which showed significant job losses – hence reflecting a net gain overall in employment metrics in the third quarter of 2023.

“The lagging sectors clearly bore the main brunt of the chronic Eskom load-shedding on their economic activities. Energy security and job security evidently remain interdependent in South Africa,” says Prof Parsons.

He points out that, although employment trends in the third quarter of 2023 are encouraging, the hurdles to job-rich growth remain formidable in the period ahead.

“South Africa needs economic growth of at least 3% to significantly cut unemployment in the medium term – much more than the modest 1% to 1,5% projected in the recent Medium-Term Budget.”

According to Prof Parsons, to make a big dent in the still high structural unemployment requires that the pace of economic reforms, growth-friendly policies and infrastructure projects need to be expedited.

“For as long as the labour force growth continues to exceed net job creation, much higher inclusive economic growth is needed to rapidly reduce unemployment in South Africa,” he concludes.