Tag: labour market

Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) take our jobs in the future? No. But people who know how to use AI effectively just might. The World Economic Forum predicts this shift, which is why our education system must embrace the opportunities AI offers. We must stop treating new technologies as threats or sources of fear.

It goes without saying, but South Africa faces a significant and concerning unemployment rate. The 2025 State of the Nation Address reiterated South Africa’s persistent employment challenges. In particular, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey reported an unemployment rate of 31.9% in Q4 of 2024.

South Africa’s unemployment crisis is a national tragedy. Stats SA in the final Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for 2024 confirmed the scale of the challenge - too many are seeking work and finding only frustration. But what if this crisis could be rebranded as an opportunity? What if there’s a way to equip jobless South Africans with the skills they need to build real careers, even if it means setting them up to look for overseas opportunities first?

South Africa is undermining its own growth if it doesn’t consider the meaningful impact of private institutions in solving capacity constraints in higher education. The oversubscribed demand for public universities reflects a far more profound systemic issue.

South Africa’s youth unemployment rate stands at an alarming 44.6% for individuals aged 15-34. This sobering statistic reflects challenges such as limited work experience, educational gaps and economic hurdles.

What are the actual job prospects for young South Africans once they have matriculated? To what extent are recent matriculants finding jobs or transitioning into post-school education and training (PSET) opportunities? These are the critical questions explored in a new report titled “School completion, the matric and post-school transitions in South Africa”.

Much has been written about the digital skills shortage. This is not a problem that will be solved overnight. As technology evolves, the demand for specific skills outpaces their availability. And as more people gain these sought-after competencies, there may be a temporary oversaturation of the market. Once parity is reached, new advancements shift the landscape again, and so the cycle continues.

There is a rare opportunity to right a lot of South Africa’s wrongs in one go. Corruption and unemployment are two major roadblocks. Permit me to explain how they can be simultaneously addressed within the current administration. I suggest an amnesty largely on the African National Congress (ANC’s) past wrongdoing in office in return for liberalisation of labour laws. This may be for a bit further down the line.

Three decades into our constitutional democracy, the remnants of our dark past continue to lurk in the layered echelons of our unequal society. In commemoration of Freedom Day, we are reminded that though blood was shed and sacrifices were made to attain this freedom, not all South Africans are privy to its gains. Many South Africans are politically free yet economically poor.

One of the outcomes of the latest issue to swap the world – low growth, high interest rates and the threats of recessions – which will remain a driver for the growth of new ways of working and alternative business models for many years to come, is the increasing development of the side gig economy.