“The fact that many graduates cannot find a job is an indication of just how weak our economic growth is and how little jobs are being created,” says FNB’s economic analyst, Jason Muscat.

The unemployment rate rose from 26.5% at the end of 2016 to 27.7% in the first quarter of this year. Muscat says this was caused by a weak economy as well as an excess of people entering the job market. 

He says that this means there are more people joining the workforce than can be accommodated.

The unemployment rate is largely made up of young people according to Muscat. 

“We have seen that unemployment is disproportionately skewed toward the youth. Those people would be school-leavers or those leaving the education field and applying for jobs," says Muscat.

“Firstly, the economy is exceptionally weak and that means that companies are not investing and expanding and therefore are not creating new jobs. Secondly, there were more than 500 000 new entrants into the job market. So basically with half a million new people joining the market only 143 000 jobs were created,” explains Muscat.

According to Muscat, the agricultural and mining industries are the only two sectors that have seen growth during this time with increases of 22.2% and 12.8% respectively. However, the retail industry got the biggest knock with a negative growth of 5.9%.

On the other hand, there are industries that are in short supply of much-needed skills and even willing to pay more because of this. 

“There is a massive demand for people skilled in coding and programming. We seem to have a lack of those skills not only in South Africa but across the globe. Given that demand is so high, individuals in those particular fields are able to demand very good salaries,” says Muscat. 

“Also there is a lot of demand in sectors such as tourism which South Africa has seen a lot of growth in,” he continues.

A major group of young people who make up the unemployment rate is discouraged job seekers. “These are people who have decided to again look for a job, who have after a while been unemployed and then re-enter the job market but are unable to find work,” says Muscat.

Muscat advises job seekers to not give up and to be willing to compromise. Muscat explains: 

“Sometimes it takes a sacrifice such as working without any pay for a few weeks to prove yourself and get your foot in the door. Once you have built a reputation for yourself it becomes a lot easier to summarise your newly learned skills in a CV and show others that you have experience in your field.”

OFM/Nomaqhawe Mtebele