The recent Career Junction Employment Insights report is based on comprehensive data gathered from the Saongroup South Africa – where around 5,000 of the country’s top recruiters (both agencies and employers) advertise their positions to millions of registered jobseekers.
Sadly the statistics reveal that unemployment in South Africa is over 35% with almost 8 million people being unemployed. To add to that 17.4 million people are not economically active. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has raised alarm bells over South Africa’s record high unemployment rate which they believe will steadily creep towards the 50% mark which will mean that 50% of people in the working-age population will be officially unemployed
Most employers at this stage will be saying that you cannot employ more people and look after those that you have and more measures should be put in place to employ people. Sadly, you are impacted by these staggeringly high unemployment figures despite employing staff. You could be affected by the following:
MENTAL HEALTH
In the bigger scheme of things unemployment adversely affects the disposable income of families, erodes purchasing power, diminishes employee morale, and reduces an economy’s output and can have a negative effect on the mental state of those who are still employed. They may become more concerned about losing their jobs or be hesitant to search for other employment because they have a false belief that they “are lucky” to be employed at all. They may even feel guilty about having a job when their friends and family are out of work.
UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD
Whilst in countries abroad people can get unemployment benefits by claiming to be a job seeker, and apply to a fake job listing site, in South Africa this is not possible. However, businesses and individuals around the world were exposed to substantial legal and reputational risks by submitting overreaching or fraudulent claims to relief schemes such as the Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS), set up by governments to alleviate the impact of Covid-19.
CV FRAUD
The desperation of the unemployed unfortunately leads to an increase in CV fraud. At iFacts we have seen
Click here to view the iFacts Employee Screening Trends Report.