Everyone agrees that solving the unemployment problem in South Africa is the number one priority for economic policy for the new government, as it has been for all governments since 1994. What is less clear, and highly contested, is what should be done to solve this problem.

It’s worth starting by acknowledging that the problem is complex and there are no easy solutions. It is important to understand why unemployment is such a vexed problem, why it has remained a feature of the post-apartheid labour market, why some parts of the problem are found in other countries and why others are unique to South Africa. And how solving unemployment may be related to wider economic policies.

But address it South Africa must – because it’s the primary driver of inequality, a root cause of other social and economic problems, and a massive waste of human resources.

The official unemployment rate is 32.9%. If discouraged workers are included (people who have given up trying to find jobs), the unemployment rate is 41.9%. For young people, aged 15-24, the unemployment rate is 59.7%. If discouraged workers are included, about 11.2 million South Africans are unemployed.

Seriously tackling unemployment requires being clear about a few things.

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