Six in ten young South Africans cannot find work. A qualification is no longer enough.
ACCORDING to Stats SA, in the first quarter of 2026, 60.9% of South Africans aged 15 to 24 were unemployed.
When considering the number of people that are not in employment, education or training (NEET), Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed that 37.6% of people aged 15-24 were in the NEET category. This is the description of a generation that has been locked out of the economy before it has had a fair chance to enter it.
As we celebrate and commemorate Youth Day in South Africa, we acknowledge and remember the courage of young people who changed the course of history. In doing so, we must not find undue comfort because the youth of 1976 showed us and generations to come, what resistance and activism truly is.
They also showed us who are the chief architects of change: youth.
