At the end of March, Statistics South Africa will release the long delayed labour figures for the last quarter of 2021. It is likely that the numbers will surpass previous record-high jobless rates.
The third-quarter unemployment figures came in at 34.9%, , the highest of the world’s industrialised nations according to Bloomberg data.
Set against the backdrop of rising nationalist fervour that has been stoked over the past six years by the former Johannesburg mayor and now leader of ActionSA, Herman Mashaba, the bad news on the unemployment front will probably be used to justify his — and others — anti-migrant stance.
