QUESTION 2 [30 MARKS]

2.1 SA's jobless number grows to 7.2-million as unemployment rate breaches new record "The country's official unemployment rate has increased to a record 32.5%, as the number of jobless in South Africa grew to 7.2-million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) on Tuesday, which showed that the increasing unemployment rate is due to more people joining the labour force, as economists expected.

According to Stats SA, one million more people joined the labour force. In total, there were 333,000 job gains to 15-million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The largest job gains were made in the formal sector (up 189,000), followed by private households (up 76,000), the informal sector (up 65,000) and the agriculture sector (up 2,000).

Stats SA, however, highlighted that the movement to unemployment outweighed that of employment. Unemployment was mostly concentrated among youth - those aged between 15 and 24 years with a rate of 63.2% - and with those aged between 25 and 34, with a rate of 41.2%".

Source: Omarjee, L. (2021). SA's jobless number grows to 7.2-million as the unemployment rate breaches new records. News24. https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/sas-jobless-grows-to-72-million-asunemployment-rate-breaches-new-record-20210223 (accessed 24 August 2021).

QUESTION:

Latest statistics include a fourth category used to classify unemployment as individuals who are "discouraged from seeking work". Elaborate on this definition and provide examples of whom it might refer to and how it has impacted the new unemployment rate in South Africa and members of society.

2.2 Which form of unemployment plagues South Africa the most and give two examples that can be used to explain this. From a macroeconomic perspective, what can be done to remedy this issue?