Stats SA has released its Quarterly Labour Force Survey on Tuesday and the numbers are grim. The unemployment rate in the country has remained stable at 27.7% – the worst levels in 14 years. And while the unemployment rate is unchanged quarter-to-quarter, it is still 0.6 of a percentage point higher compared to the same period last year.

South Africa’s youth, (aged 15-34) remain the most vulnerable in the labour market. The youth unemployment rate was 38.6% which is 10.9 percentage points above the national average. Yet, this has actually seen a 0.6 percent decline quarter-to-quarter.

Stats SA’s figures show that 6.2 million South Africans are currently without work. Of the current 15 million not-economically active people in the country, 2.4 million were discouraged work seekers – a 75 000 increase from the second quarter of 2017.

The expanded unemployment rate also increased. This rate includes people who wanted to work, but have stopped looking for jobs, increased slightly by 0.2 of a percentage point to 36.8% in the third quarter.

Agonisingly, Stats SA said that 67% of unemployed people have been looking for work for a year or more.

There has been a massive loss of 105 000 jobs in the manufacturing, construction and agriculture sectors.

Reuters also reported:

The biggest contributors to job growth in South Africa was in the finance and other business sectors (68 000) and the community, social and personal services sectors (56 000).

And the latest unemployment figures could be bad news for the already struggling rand. Business Day reported:

SA’s high unemployment rate, especially among the youth, is commonly raised by credit rating agencies as a major obstacle to the country’s economic growth prospects.

Economists have predicted that South Africa could face yet another downgrade after Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba delivered a grim economic outlook during his mid-term budget speech earlier in the month.

During the 2014 elections, the ANC promised six million jobs in its election manifesto. Very little of that has materialised.