{"id":99851,"date":"2025-08-14T19:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=99851"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:01:06","slug":"q2-labour-force-survey-reveals-catastrophic-unemployment-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/q2-labour-force-survey-reveals-catastrophic-unemployment-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Q2 Labour Force Survey Reveals \u2018Catastrophic\u2019 Unemployment Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em>
\n3-minute read<\/em>
\n14 August 2025 | 19:00 CAT<\/em><\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udcf8 SAFTU warns of deepening job crisis as 25 million South Africans remain unemployed or have stopped looking for work, calling for urgent economic reform to avert social instability.<\/p><\/div>\n

South Africa\u2019s unemployment crisis has reached alarming levels, with the latest Q2 2025 Quarterly Labour Force Survey by Statistics South Africa revealing that 25 million people are either unemployed or have given up on seeking work. Trade union federation SAFTU has described the situation as \u201cnothing short of catastrophic,\u201d warning that U.S. tariff hikes under Donald Trump could further devastate the economy.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Radio Islam International,<\/em><\/a> SAFTU spokesperson Newton Masuku stressed that the 30% punitive tariffs on South African goods, although not yet in full effect, would \u201cdecimate manufacturing, mining, and agriculture, wiping out thousands of jobs.\u201d He cautioned that without urgent action, \u201cthe worst is yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masuku placed the blame on decades of failed economic policy. Since the adoption of neoliberal strategies in 1996, he argued, South Africa has suffered deindustrialisation, sluggish growth, and rising inequality, with the economy locked into raw mineral exports without beneficiation, effectively exporting jobs abroad.<\/p>\n

The crisis disproportionately affects youth and women, the very groups the democratic dispensation was meant to uplift. \u201cAlmost half of the working population is unemployed, roaming the streets without hope,\u201d Masuku said, warning that such inequality risks sparking social instability.<\/p>\n

In response, SAFTU has called for an Emergency Presidential Economic Summit involving trade unions, progressive economists, civil society, and student organisations to chart an alternative path away from austerity and towards a state-led industrial strategy. This would include:<\/p>\n