05/06/2026
📊 3.9 million. That's how many young South Africans aged 15–24 are not in employment, education or training, out of 10.3 million in that age group. Youth unemployment here has now climbed above 60%.
Buhlebethu Magwaza sat with Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke Stats SA to unpack the latest figures, and they reflect the real, daily reality young people are living: just how hard it has become to find work.
In the first quarter of this year, 345,000 jobs disappeared — 206,000 of them in community and social services, the very sector where public employment programmes operate. Last year, the Basic Education Employment Initiative put close to 200,000 young people to work in schools across the country. This year, that work has all but disappeared.
This is exactly why we keep returning to one demand: public employment programmes that are funded, protected and built to last. The work exists. Young people are ready to do it.
There is work. Pay us in it. 🟡
Sign the petition — https://bit.ly/peps4youthfb.
