<strong>To reduce unemployment, SA must consistently expand by 5%</strong>

Unemployment is one of South Africa’s problems, with a current rate of 33.9%, the highest in the list of 82 countries. For the longest time, unemployment has been a major issue in South Africa.

According to central bank Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim, South Africa’s economy must grow at a rate of 5% for several years in order to create jobs and reduce the country’s high unemployment rate.

Accelerating growth to 5% may be difficult for an economy that has grown at an average rate of 1% over the last decade and has been buffeted by rolling power outages, labour unrest, and transportation bottlenecks.

“Going from a 1% economy to 3% isn’t rocket science” for South Africa, Cassim told reporters in Johannesburg on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, 3% gets the economy going, but it will not bring the unemployment down. To get unemployment down, we really need systematic 5% growth every year and that’s a different debate.”

Power outages, known locally as loadshedding, have reached an all-time high this year, discouraging businesses from expanding and adding jobs. Rising labour and utility costs prompted Sibanye Stillwater, South Africa’s second-largest precious-metal miner by revenue, to consider laying off approximately 2 000 workers at some of its gold mining operations.

The unemployment rate in the continent’s most industrialised nation is currently 33.9%, the highest on a Bloomberg-monitored list of 82 countries and the eurozone.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the country’s unemployment rate will reach 35.2% this year, the highest in the world, though data for some countries is unavailable. According to a Bloomberg survey of economists, the unemployment rate will be 34% this year, 32.7% next year, and 31.8% in 2024.