South Africa: Two in Three Young South Africans Cannot Find Jobs

What the report says

South Africa’s youth joblessness has reached a new high, with figures cited by Scrolla and distributed by AllAfrica showing that nearly 63% of young people were unemployed in the second quarter of 2026. The report says this means roughly two in three young South Africans cannot find work, making youth the most affected group in the country’s broader labour-market slowdown.

The article places the youth figures alongside a worsening national picture. South Africa’s overall unemployment rate rose to 33.6% between April and June, while the number of unemployed people increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million, according to Statistics South Africa. The number of employed people also fell slightly over the period.

Education and skills are presented as major dividing lines. The report says unemployment is far higher among people without matric than among university graduates, and it quotes economists and academics who argue that South Africa’s education system has not produced enough of the skills employers need. It also notes weak early-school literacy and poor performance in maths and science as longer-term factors that limit access to work.

The story matters because it links current unemployment to deeper structural problems, including education quality, training gaps and employers’ changing needs. It also highlights a growing group of young people who are not working, studying or in training, raising concerns about long-term exclusion from the labour market.