The South African government has implemented numerous economic policies to boost employment since the democratic transition in 1994. But between 1995 and 2022 the growth in employment – from 9.5 million in 1995 to 15.8 million in 2022 – wasn’t enough to keep up with the more rapid increase of job seekers which more than doubled from 13.7 million to 27.7 million during the same period.
As a result, both the unemployment number and the rate increased during the 27-year period. The number of unemployed rose to a shockingly high 7.7 million while the unemployment rate reached 32.8% in 2022.
