The 11-million jobs target is set in the National Development Plan (NDP), South Africa’s blueprint economic document, which not only details the country’s problems, but also proposes solutions, such as using small businesses as a vehicle to generate new employment.
South Africa’s official unemployment rate rose to 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA’s) Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) published in March 2022. This is the highest rate recorded since Stats SA began compiling and publishing QLFS figures in 2008.
“The NDP says by 2030 we need to create more than 10 million jobs. We are now in 2022, and far from that. It doesn’t even look like there’s someone in government tracking that [NDP jobs goal],” says Matabane.
“In the last six months, things have become worse, especially for those doing business with the state, because of
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