Youth unemployment in South Africa has surged to a worrying 46.1% in the first quarter of 2025, with formal employment continuing to shrink and nearly half of young adults unable to find work. In the 15–34 age group—now numbering over 10 million—teachers, graduates, and skilled youth face growing barriers to labor-market entry, revealing a crisis that deepens as many enter adulthood never having held a job.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) sounded the alarm, calling for a coordinated national employment strategy and urgent structural reforms. They warn that contracting formal jobs—down by 245,000 in the quarter—has left many youth reliant on precarious informal work or none at all. Advocacy groups are now pushing for a jobs guarantee programme, modelled on successful international initiatives, to offer young South Africans meaningful, stable employment.
Disparities loom sharply along provincial and gender lines. In the North West province, youth unemployment reaches 58.8%, while the Eastern Cape records 54.3%. Women are disproportionately affected: 48.1% of young women aged 15–34 are not in employment, education, or training, compared to 42.2% of young men. With 1.9 million young South Africans classified as discouraged jobseekers, the lack of work opportunities is pushing many into permanent economic exclusion stats.
Stats SA data paints a sobering picture: youth unemployment has climbed nearly 10 percentage points—from 36.9% in 2015 to 46.1% in 2025. The youngest cohort (15–24 years) is hardest hit, with 62.4% unable to secure employment. Tens of thousands exit the education system without job prospects or training.
As the scale of this crisis becomes clearer, Fedusa and allied voices are pushing for the President to adopt a youth-focused job guarantee. Such programmes, already championed globally, would position the government as an employer of last resort—providing paid work and skill-building opportunities that international models like Europe’s Youth Guarantee show can reduce unemployment rates significantly
With nearly half of the youth population sidelined economically, South Africa is at a critical juncture. Sustainable youth employment demands bold, systemic interventions that merge education, economic policy, and labour reform into a cohesive plan—lest the latent potential of this generation slides into permanent disengagement.
