Agency demands radical change as almost half of SA’s young people can’t find work

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has expressed serious concern at the quarterly labour force survey for the second quarter of 2026.

The official unemployment rate rose from 32.7% to 33.6%.

The number of unemployed people increased by about 345 000 to 8.5 million, while employment fell by 16 000 to roughly 16.7 million. Young people aged 15–34 remain the hardest hit.

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Their unemployment rate climbed from 45.8% to 47.4%, meaning almost one in every two young people in the labour market cannot find work.

Of the 10.4 million people aged 15–24, 36.4% were not in employment, education, or training.

Although graduates had a much lower unemployment rate of 12.4% compared with 39.2% among those without matric, graduate unemployment itself also increased.

The NYDA said this shows that skills alone are not enough – the economy is simply not creating enough jobs.

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Employment declined in seven of the ten industries measured. Provincial differences remain stark, with the Eastern Cape at 47.5% unemployment and the Western Cape at 19.5%.

The agency stressed that youth unemployment must be treated as a central goal of economic policy, not just a youth-development issue.

It called for greater investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, the care economy, agro-processing, the green economy, and digital industries, together with deliberate support for youth-owned enterprises.

While the NYDA will continue its work in entrepreneurship, skills, and the national youth service, it warned that the scale of the crisis requires an economy that grows differently and absorbs millions of young people into productive work.

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