South Africa’s unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 34 years increased from 32.7% to 36.1% between 2008 and 2014, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Thursday.

The unemployment rate was consistently higher among youth than among adults by more than 20 percentage points in the post recessionary period, said the latest Stats SA report on national and provincial labour market trends among the youth.

Young women were in a particularly precarious situation in the labour market with unemployment rates more than 10 percentage points higher than for that of young men.

While young people accounted for 52% to 64% of the working age population, they account for only 42% to 49% of those employed.

Statistician-General Pali Lehohla said young people faced a number of challenges in the labour market, including the fact that many young people had not worked before.

He noted that the incidence of long-term unemployment among the youth was worryingly high. “The problem of long-term unemployment is particularly acute in Mpumalanga and Free State – the provinces in which the incidence of long-term unemployment also increased the most since 2008,” said Lehohla.

In 2014, close to two-thirds of young people had been unemployed for a year or longer, while young people accounted for 90% of those who are unemployed and had never worked before. 

The report also revealed that 26.6% of young people resided in households where no one was employed, with the problem being acute for both young men and women.

“The share of male youth who lived in households in which no one was employed rose from 46.5% in 2008, to 49.3% in 2014.

However, young people aged 15 to 34 years are not a homogenous group, and their labour market situation often varies when five-year age categories are analysed.

“The statistics show that the unemployment rate decreases with age, with unemployment rates being highest among 15 to 19 year olds,” Lehohla concluded.