A glimmer of hope in South Africa’s unemployment crisis appeared when Statistics SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed that 154,000 individuals have recently found work.
The country’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.3% to 32.6%. Despite this, three unemployed young people say this is no cause for celebration, as it is a minuscule number of people who managed to gain employment.
Lindokuhle, a 24-year-old unemployed nursing graduate from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, said he would gladly celebrate if at least one million people found jobs.
“I doubt that these statistics are accurate. I know people who have been without employment for several years. It has only been one for me, but it feels like I still have to struggle to survive. I see no reason to celebrate,” he said.
The government only offers empty platitudes and false hope, but never delivers, he added.
Nomaswazi, a 27-year-old mother of two from Amanzimtoti who lost her data capturing job during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic said she shares the sentiment.
“Those who have managed to find jobs have been extremely lucky. I am glad that more people out there will be able to feed their families. However, I cannot find it in my heart to be happy or celebrate.
“Me and my children survive on my grandmother’s pension and Sassa grants. With inflation and price hikes, we are barely making it. I have developed depression as a result of not finding a job for so long and seeing the look on my children’s faces when I tell them I can’t buy them what their peers have,” she explained.
A former nanny, 26-year-old Zinhle, who is also from Durban, said that she no longer pays attention to such news because millions of people are still unemployed.
“I don’t care about the positive statistics because in my eyes not much has changed. Maybe it eases the government’s conscience to see some drop in the rate, but here in the real world things are still bleak,” Zinhle said.
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IOL