How Well is the South African Job Market Recovering Post Pandemic? 

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world on its head. With severe loss of lives reported across the globe, it has also impacted the employment scenario significantly worldwide. This global crisis has slowed down major economies and thrown the world into abysmal depths of uncertainty.

But having said this, when we look at each country, the statistics we come across are never quite the same. The varying nature of this data is driven by factors like demographics, socioeconomic and political conditions of a country. So while the impact is more profound for some, it is marginally low for others.

In this context, when we look at South Africa, we see how this pandemic has laid bare the country’s biggest pain point, its job market. Unemployment has been plaguing the country for a long time. South Africa has only 15 million employed people out of a working-age population of 40 million. Of which, 3 million work in the public sector, while the remaining 12 million are low-wage workers. During this period of crisis, the latter suffered more job losses compared to their high-wage counterparts.

Are there any signs of job market recovery post-pandemic?

The crisis is still far from over. But as they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining. There are efforts already underway to get the struggling economy back on track. Some promising changes that are sweeping the country right now include:

Focus on digital transformation

In an attempt to adapt to the new normal, many businesses in South Africa are now going the digital way. There is also a growing number of startups in the digital sector with young entrepreneurs driving the trend. These ventures include creating apps for home deliveries like food, medicine, grocery, etc. With educational institutions remaining closed indefinitely, learning too has taken the online route along with other essential services.

However, these groundbreaking changes could not be brought about, without the timely intervention by the South African government. The ruling dispensation enabled these rapid transformations by quickly reforming their existing policies. These progressive measures helped in removing the hassles of red-tapism, facilitating positive changes in the South African society. These changes have a far-reaching impact in generating future jobs in the country.

Focus on self-employment

The focus on tech startups by young entrepreneurs could be a key to boosting self-employment. Currently, the self-employment rate in South Africa is quite low compared to other countries. So once this gaping difference is bridged, it could bring down the unemployment rate significantly.

Conclusion

To keep this positive trend alive and generate more jobs, South Africa must further do the following:

• Create a more conducive climate for investment and trade
• Create wise fiscal policies
• Remove structural limitations to growth
• Boost the expansion of micro, small and medium enterprises
• Bolster further infrastructure improvements to support the digital transformation taking place in the country right now.

There is also a need for people to acquire new skills if they want to become eligible for the job market in the future.